Donning the Jacket
by mak89
Summary: Ben Tennyson had seen it all. Horrifying ghosts of the past , Aliens from the future and witches from parallel dimensions. He lost the ultimatrix in his final stand against Diagon and with Azmuth being dead no more omnitrixes were going to be around. He settled down with his life . However being ordinary was never his fate.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly in the perfectly cloudless blue sky and a slight breeze made the tree's sway softly, sensually. The sound of water in a nearby fountain was drowned out by the sounds of cars, laughter, and other normal sounds but still there underneath like a steady hum.

Green grass glimmered in the light, reflected in the nearby shop windows. Windows displaying bathing suits and soft summer dresses. Windows that held the attention of the passing people, drawing them inside for more.

From every street corner rose delightful smells. The smell of hot dogs and barbecue, enticing all who caught a whiff to the vendors who sold them.

All in all it was a perfect summer day...A familiar green and black car slided around the road. The brown haired youth who is riding the car could feel the nostalgia in air. It had been years since he drove through those streets. How could he forget his best friend, The most reckless driver on the earth! He could still hear the laughs of his cousin and His best friend. Those were really magical days

Then with a screech of tires the stylish racing car stopped. The green eyed youth opened the door and stepped out . The youth let out a sigh as he read the sign infront of him

 **Burbank Cemetery**

Burbank? Huh even after twelve years the name didn't sit well with him . Bellwood had a nice ring to it, Burbank still seemed odd to him. He closed his eyes once again , It still seemed like yesterday when the doom striked his family. When he was ten years old the enraged warlord of Vilgaxia assaulted his hometown. He destroyed his school, Burned his home and held his father hostage. He managed to rescue his father but defeating Vilgax was too much for the little hero.

In the end when all hope seemed lost, His father managed to lure Vilgax into a gas pipeline. Whenever people looked at Carl Tennyson they thought of him as the dullest of Maxwell Tennyson's children. However, This wasn't the truth. Carl Tennyson was a bright child , He could sense things which others can't even think of. He sensed it very much early that his mother didn't love him, She didn't love any of her children. Just like he feared she vanished one day. Frank always thought she would return some da

y. Carl knew better. Verdona Tennyson was devoid of maternal insticts and any kind of feelings. The grief was too much for Maxwell Tennyson and he buried himself in plumber business. Carl Tennyson never forgave his father for doing that . He joined JROTC in his highschool and after his greduation jumped on the first chance to join military. He met a nurse Sandra Wilson there and fell in love with her, Who would soon become his wife and mother of his son Ben.

Sgt Carl Tennyson was an explosive expert, Honorably discharged from US military. He loved his family more than anything in the world. He wanted to be a father that Maxwell Tennyson was never to his children. When a demon from another attacked his son, He did everything he could to protect him. Even if it meant working with his father

In the end his father was the one who lured Vilgax in the gas pipeline which was one of the biggest in entire state. Ben was busy in evacuating the innocent bystanders. He had no idea his father had planned something drastic like that. Before he could even guess what was happening, Entire Bellwood shook with a powerful explosion. The whole pipe line system was incinereated. Along with the courageous human and vicious chimera sui genisis. Gas was set free as gas lines broke and infernos appeared all over the facades of buildings, electric signage and windows crashed and collapsed onto the street below. To complicate things water lines were broken and so there was no water to extinguish the fire

It was a dark day in the history of Tennyson family. Maxwell Tennyson lost his arm and son. Sandra Tennyson lost his husband and Ben Tennyson lost the greatest pillar of his life. His father

Many people lost lives, Many people lost their loved ones, Many people lost their properties...It was going to take time for them to stand on their feet once again.

The young man walked inside the graveyard with a flowers in his hands. He had teary eyes but a smile graced his face. He was going to see his Dad and if he cried infront of him...His father would return from grave and kick his ass even if he would be twenty six next month

"I have a lot of things to say Dad but let's begin with how I got rid of this horrible backpain and learnt walking again" Ben Tennyson continued with a fond smile

 _ **Flashback**_

 _ **Ten months ago**_

 _ **Afghanistan**_

The man rustled inside with a stretcher carrying a bloodied and bruised patient . Medical officer's eyes widened with surprise as he took a brief look. Broken spine, No feeling in legs...bruises all over his body. This kid really looked like crap

"What happened?"

"Chopper crash, A rescue operation got compromised. However the pilot managed to fly away from their area but in the end they got hit"

"Are there any other survivors?" Medical officer asked

"All four of them survived. Lieutenant Tennyson dragged them out and managed to call for help " The soldier reported " Coasties weren't wrong when they said they were sending one of their best rescue pilots"

"Dragged them out before the remains of chopper exploded? In this condition?" Medical officer dumbfounded as he looked at the x ray reports " Lieutenant Tennyson I am gonna take a look at your back but its gonna hurt"

Emerald eyes shot upon the mention of his name. He gave a short reluctant nod

Nurses quickly turned him causing the man to yelp in an unimaginable pain. He really wished he had his watch right now.

"Its really bad. The guy is done for this war. Evac him to NATO camp at Kandhar. Get me on call with Dr Henry. We got spinal compression and root Tennyson has 100 minutes window if he wants to walk again"

 **Flashback end**

 **"** The nurses and physios were gorgeous" Ben chuckled as he rubbed his back " But those Seven months felt like hell"

,... ...

Things don't look all that different,' thought Chuck as he walked through the courtyard toward his sister's apartment. Granted it had only been 6 months since his last visit but he's always surprised by the fact that no matter what crazy turns his own life took, Ellie's life and home seemed remarkably stable. 'Time to face the music.'

His knock is interrupted by a high pitched squeal from inside the apartment. "Yep, Ellie's home." he chuckled to himself.

"You're here," his sister shouted as the door opened and he barely had time to drop his black duffle bag as she dragged him into a bone crushing hug. "It's great to see you little brother."

"May be thats because that someday you'll find a girl and bring her home just to keep her from throwing more of her friends and coworkers at you," The old man who was wearing hawaian shirt called as he pulled out a chair

"Always great seeing you grampa " Chuck answered with smile as he shook hands with the old man " It seems you keep getting younger every day"

"Counting on Grampa Max for helping you out, You know that never works out. Unless he uses his cook fu" The tall sandy haired male said as he dismounted his exercise bike and walked over.

"Hi Captain," Chuck answered back, shaking his hand. "How's the workout?"

"Awesome!" Devon replied with a huge smile.

"You ask him stuff like that just to get him to say that word don't you?" Ellie fake pouted as she turned to Chuck " By the way you never told me how was your job going?"

"Boring...Teaching at Friendkin university sucks. Its not like that anything is wrong with the place. I hate teaching in general. Anyways its good money and the freelance is going well. May be next year I will get enough for my own venture" Chuck easily dropped his bags again and sat on the couch " So where is Benji? Last time I saw him he was at Walter Reed Army Medical centre, Cursing his physio for pushing him hard!"

"Like the way he always does" Ellie let out a sigh " Just the moment he starts getting better he jumped in his green and black monster "

"Still bottled up as ever " Chuck snorted " Cousin B giving you a hard time?"

"A pain in ass , We practically grew up together ever since Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra brought us in but still this guy has the habit to do everything he was told not to. I guess one of these days I'd have to beat the hell out of him" Ellie said with a completely serious face

"Wait for one more day though" Chuck grinned " Can't face your friends without my meat shield"

Ellie was about to speak but the knocking sound on the door interrupted. Quickly she stood up and opened the door. Her smile turned into a frown as a familiar figure revealed himself

"Oh, So you finally decided to show up"

The tall and muscular man chuckled sheepishly as he massaged his neck. His green eyes still sparkling with same innocence and warmth he had in his childhood. He was wearing white shirt with grey sleeves which formed a hourglass symbol. His green pants and black and white boots still had the charm he used to have in his teenage years

" I know...I know...I was not supposed to be late!" He waved his hands apologetically

"Well I will cut you some slack this time" Elie's gaze softened as she bumped on his shoulder " Its a delight to see you walking back on your feet. If it wasn't for that you might get grounded"

"Aww... Absolutely greatful for that Elenor"

"Stop that! Unlike Gwendolyn I do like being called by nicknames" Ellie shrugged and added with a smile " Come on in!'

The brown haired youth let out a chuckle once again as he walked inside

"How is my coolest grandfather?" He asked with a bright smile as he hugged the jovial old man.

"Feeling older" Grampa Max chuckled " Hows your back?"

"Pretty much bearable, Pain is entirely non existent. I gotta thank Proffesor Charles here for suggesting those yoga classes " Ben replied with a grin as he made himself on the couch

"Glad to see you back Lt cool" Chuck smiled as he fist bumped with his cousin slash first roommate. Their friendship traded back to childhood days. When they first met Ben was playing sumo slammers, He didn't freak out when Carl Tennyson told him that he would have to share his room with Chuck for Christmas. He just smiled and handed over the second remote to Chuck. Turning the game into was the moment they actually clicked . Ben was a year older than Chuck and three year younger than Ellie

Morgan and Ben shared many similarities. However , Unlike Morgan certain events forced Ben to come face to face with his flaws, Which caused him to enter in a "improvisation" phase. Despite all the animosity Carl had with his sister , He was a very good man. Always showed up at the thanksgiving and Christmas. Mary was a bitter woman. Always rubbing her success on her brother's face, Criticizing his son's table manners and low results. Frank couldn't put up with his sister but Carl was different. He believed if her kids were growing up without their father, He could try that they would be atleast not alone. His mother...she just laughed at the idea of her inferior brother helping her

Carl saw the glimpse of his own cold alien mother in Mary, She wasn't totaly heartless like Verdona but her prorities were different. When Chuck was ten, One day his mother vanished and his Uncle Carl stepped up to take care for him and his sister. That's how he and his sister ended up in Tennyson household untill one day uncle Carl died in the horrible disaster. Media hailed his uncle as hero, Believing that he died while evacuating innocent people. Even got a couple of medals from army, Afterall he was still in the reserve corps. Ben didn't show it to anyone but his father's death hit him pretty hard. He was pretty bad at showing grief, always hiding his tears behind a bright smile and cheery how Ben was. He would share his laugh with the world but he would bury his sorrows deep inside his heart, Hidden from everyone. However, Things did turn out pretty well in the end for them. Except for those swimming classes and self defense classes Ben dragged him into. They paid off in the end but he wouldn't forgive his cousin for convincing him to tag along. Well, He wouldn't have if it wasn't for the fact his first high school girl friend was a hot shot cheerleader.

Ben could be a pain in ass some times but being related to soccer captain surely makes your high school easy and cheesy. Morgan didn't share that luxury though . Ben made pretty sure of that. He never liked the fact that he pined after Ellie . He still doesn't like it.

Guess somethings will never change!

Ellie was intelligent but she didn't rub it on his face, They didn't share any sort of rivalry and she wasn't snarky. That's what made it easy for Ben to get along with his older cousin. He didn't have to overcome any obstacles like the way in his relationship with Gwen. It wasn't hard to get along with her before and It didn't get any after his father brought Bartowski siblings home. Thankfully, She wasn't anything like her hypocrite mother. She was really accepting of family and started seeing him as little sibling the same day Chuck started calling him his cool roommate. She was greatful to his parents, If it wasn't for them she and Chuck would have to grow up all alone. Atleast being with someone who they knew and who cared about them was a much better choice. Her uncle died before she could get to know him better. His death didn't hit her as hard as it hit with Ben and Sandra Tennyson but she could feel their pain. He was a great father to Ben, A good husband and from what she felt a very good uncle too.

It was the grief which formed her deep bond with her foster became extremely fond of her aunt over time andtime the feeling was mutual. It was admiring how Sandra Tennyson pulled herself from the grief and raised three children all by herself. Ben's mom worked on two jobs to keep things afloat .Ofcourse the insurances, Govt compensations and rewards from Mayor helped but nothing was going to bring Carl Tennyson back. The Plumbers shop was taken over by Grampa Max, Who sent a share of the profits to them. Infact Chuck, Ellie and Ben had worked in it during their highschool. By the time Ben became teenager he was pretty much inside Ellie's protective bubble, Just like Chuck. She sorta became pretty much like a parent and it still bothers Ben. Well, He can't do anything about that. However, their happiness was shortlived. When Ben was about to finish his highschool, Sandra Tennyson lost her life in a plane crash

This time Ben had enough, Grief was too much for him to handle. He got his saddles in gear and left for the Coast Guard Officer Cadet school. People didn't like his choice very much saying that he wanted to go out in glory just like his father. Chuck thought he was pretty cool , Guarding stormy seas sounded exciting. However his sister wasn't much happy with it. She threw a real tanturm about it. Similar to how his mother would have reacted to him joining any branch of military. Things became pretty much heated between him and his foster sister. Especially when Ben got too much angry and said that she was just his cousin. Not his real sister or his mother. Ellie lost it too and slapped him.

Their estrangement lasted for two long years, Both of them refusing to apologize. Well, But on a christmas eve Chuck and Devon locked them up in a dark room. It was Grampa Max's idea though. After some yelling and cursing the ice between them broke . Ellie admitted she was tired of losing her loved ones and him choosing such dangerous profession increased the chance of him ending up in grave. Sandra Tennyson was like the mother she never had. Burying her was the most difficult thing she had to put up with. If Ben were to die , It would tear her apart from told her that saving people was the only thing he could find solace in. He realized how horrible she must have felt and apologized for saying things he shouldn't have. They made amends with in no time and things were back to normal.

"So Its decided then! They won't be calling you back?" Devon asked the brown haired youth who was enjoying his smoothies

"Yeah, You doctors know better than me! I got pulled in reserve" Ben sighed and added with a frown " I could still fly a chopper but no ...they had to give me honorable discharge"

"No chance with the surgeries done on your spine!" Ellie scowled and added with a sigh " May be its about time for you to settle down and live a safe steady life like all of us. Anything is better than facing tidal waves in arctic sea and getting bombed in Afghanistan"

"Yeah but safe is boring " Ben winked with a playful smile and turned to his grandfather " So Gwendolyn called you? Kevin told me they are expecting a baby next week"

"Oh I heard" Grampa Max nodded " I would be surely going to see my great grand child. Clyde will handle the shop. I guess you will come as well"

"Yeah, Probably on this weekend. If I didn't go Kevin would murder me" Ben replied with a grin " Besides I can also give Profesdor lift that way"

"Sounds good" Chuck replied jovially " You can also hang out in LA for some time"

"I would love to visit baby too but hospital is kinda busy now a days" Ellie sighed dejectedly

"There is always next weekend after that besides you can always use video chat " Captain Awesome spoke with a bright smile , Cheering up his girlfriend

Ben Tennyson smiled wholeheartedly again as Chuck complained Ellie about throwing "real" girls at him while he knew real girls back in University. How his female students thought he was a geek god causing everyone in room to snicker. Ellie redirected the topic towards his foster brother with a smirk, Saying that Her friends might find a heroic rescue pilot sexy too. Letting him know that he had a big target on his head too. Ben sighed if he wanted to avoid hungry pack of wolves, He will have to keep dodging at Chuck's birthday party

He still had a seven month relapse time before he could be assigned to another job. Mainly because theoritically his muscles still needed rest. Physio had helped him as much as it could and to further ensure his recovery doctors told him to join yoga classes.

After this period he would be assigned to a law enforcement agency. Coast Guard Intelligence Service would have been a likely option. However despite having an excellent service record his recklessness and lack of respect for authority where well known amongst his unit. One of the officers who he saved back in Afghanistan. When that Colonel met him in the medical facility he promised to return the favor. It didn't take him much time to realize what he meant

After making a full recovery Ben was supposed to join State Capitol Police Force. Getting the boring job of protecting cunniving congrasmen and their family. However, Fate had ways of messing up with people's plans and destiny had greater designs for Ben if the adventurer who was used to turn into aliens didn't know about it

...

The non-descript office building seemed to shake as an explosion tore through the sub-basement causing unnoticed security stations to spew heavily armed personnel dressed in black fatigues and heavy body armor carrying identical M4 carbines. In the midst of the confusion almost unnoticed an athletic man in a bloody shirt dropped from the roof and made a run for the perimeter while fiddling with an electronic device of some sort in his hands.

Plumbers, warriors of peace. Thats what he was meant be, Doing adventures in space , Fighting against evil aliens, Helping good were his dreams back in his childhood days. They were a pretty good team. His sister Helen, Manny and him. Things got even better after he met the mightiest of all plumbers. The boy who defeated Vilgax, The boy who could turn into aliens...Benjamin Tennyson. He set him on right path and they worked together for numerous times after that. Saving world from those evil highbreeds and Doctor Animo...he felt like a superhero

He thought may be one day he could become a great intergalactic officer like Maxwell Tennyson and famous all over the galaxy like day things got too much troublesome when they got attacked by Ultimate Kevin but once again Ben took charge when it was needed and turned Kevin normal once again. That day he started fearing that threats were getting stronger and may be someday they might end up against something which Ben won't be able to defeat

His nightmares came true as Ben had crossed paths against someone who he can't defeat. Old George. Both of them wielding the weapons created by the same person. What followed is a hige massacare of non humans led by forever knights. Helen and Manny were slayed by George himself. Plumbers fought against the knights and tried to protect the innocent aliens. They failed horribly. Old George was simply unbeatable. However the lunatic knight decided for a truce when he realized he can't beat the demonic Diagon alone. In the end the old fool did ended up being killed by Diagon and Pierce was happy for it. Ben managed to combine the legendary ascalon with his Ultimatrix and finished Diagon. But at the cost of his powers and with Azmuth dead there was no one to give him another watch.

Plumbers did a massive cleanup. Aliens who wanted to leave where evac to other safe planets. Most of them left, Only those who loved the planet and blend in deeply stayed. Warriors of peace removed their existence from the world, They slowly started to fade away and vanished. Government agencies forget that they even existed in the first place. Earth was not ready for their technology and their level of war . So until Earth grows up they decided to went into hiding again. The leader of warrors of Peace Magistara did something weird before he left but it worked. He didn't erased people's memory but modified them to an extent. Now every one thought of super hero aliens as ridiculous, Believing them to be rumors. In CIA everyone thought of the existense of such task force as a bedtime ev the director laughed at that

Only people knew who were once part of this glorious organization. Sadly, Much weren't alive. Many of the earth stationed plumbers perished in Old George and Diagon fiasco. He along with Cooper Daniels , The Tennysons and Kevin were last of Plumber's junior agents. Before leaving plumbers managed to correct the mutation in his DNA, turning him into full human

His actions were rewarded. He and his mother were given new identities . Resources that he couldn't afford before. He was given A new name

 _ **Bryce Larkin**_

"Freeze," an older man holding a smoking gun barked sarcastically as he walked up to the prone figure.

The ex leader of helpers scoffed. If he was a plumber instead of a CIA, He might never have to got through such crap. Now that he thought about becoming James Bond was worse then becoming John Maclaine. He could have made a fine cop, Kevin Levin managed to become a detective in LAPD, He could have done it too. His mind drifted back to fond memories of his childhood, Time he shared with Helen and Manny...All times he saved the world with Ben 10

 **Flashback**

"So there is this Professor who is into CIA gig and You got my cousin expelled because you didn't want him mixed up with the Project Omaha crap. Also because you didn't want his innocence destroyed. Is that right?" Ben groaned

"Totally correct! I didn't even know he was your cousin until I saw you with him last year" Pierce sighed

"I believe you! It was kinda overkill though! " Ben spoke in a serious tone and added with a frown " You could have told me beforehand, There could be some other way out of this which didn't innvolve you screwing up my cousin's career. I thought we were friends Pierce..."

" There was no other way out! I came to know about it at the last moment" Pierce irrupted with anger and added with a frown " I wish so many things could be different. You still having your watch, Helen and Manny being alive, Me being a plumber who didn't have to screw with his friend's life just to save him from clutches of the ruthless CIA recruiter. One of my only friends will hate me forever. Ben 10 could have accomplished anything but there was nothing Ben Tennyson could help me with"

"I am sorry you had to do this Pierce." Ben spoke softly as he tapped on his friend's shoulder" I miss having my watch too but I did what I had to do to finish Diagon even if it costed me the ultimatrix"

"I know Ben, You saved the world back there" Pierce let out a dejected sigh and looked at the ex wielder of Ultimatrix "Don't you miss those days Ben, When you used to have to cool powers, Fight evil...When you yourself in the mirror don't you wish you could be the superhero once again"

"Man!All of us have such thought. Me , Gwen Kevin and you too" Ben replied with a smile " We gave our childhood to protect the planet, A bit our teenage years too. May be its time for us to sit back and enjoy the show instead of acting it. Enjoying things we fought so hard to protect. Staying happy, That's what good for us"

"You are right!" Pierce slash Bryce spoke with a bright smile and asked with curiosity " What are you going to do now?"

"This isn't something magic can solve besides Gwen doesn't do magic now, Kevin would help but beating up Flemming won't solve the issue...

"Dead right on that! Hey I totaly forgot about Cooper, He works with goverment right? After he used that aging machine on him?"

"He works in NASA" Ben deadpanned

"Wrong department I guess , But if he is a big shot there he could still help" Bryce spoke with hope, He screwed up with Chuck's career . If it could be mended, He would be more than happy

"Nah, calling Edwin will do. We were pals way back there so your flamming guy won't suspect anything. He will work something out . May be getting Chuck into an another ivy league college to complete his last year and have this incident removed from his certificates"

"Whoa! who is this Edwin guy?"

"Owner of Grandsmith industries.. His grandfather was previous president's echonomy adviser" Ben replied with a grin

"How did you met that guy? He is like Bill Gates of hotel industries

"That's story of another time, My friend!"

"There may not be another time Ben, I am joining CIA for crying out loud"

"We will meet again Pierce, I will hold you on that one" Ben shook hands with the last of the helpers and took his leave. He had to do so many things. Calling Edwin, cheering up his geeky cousin, Handling his pseudo parent Ellie...so as busy as a bee

... **Flashback end**

"You were wrong Ben" Bryce growled as he was hit in the chest by a gunshot that threw him backwards to the ground as the sound echoed through the open area.

"You're too late Casey," Bryce gasped as he pushed the send button on his device which flashed "Sent to Ben"

 _"You have enjoyed the world enough Ben...It's time to go back in hero business"_

 _"_ **It's hero time"** Bryce muttered for one last time, The device spitting flames as it fell from his lifeless fingers

 **I didn't think of writing this one but once this idea got into my mind I couldn't stop myself from writing it.**

 **This is more like a wish fullfilment though. I changed a few things in chuckverse , Made changes into Ben 10 verse and combined them.I always thought what if the intersect got to someone who accomplished things beyond the level of CIA and NSA. He would act laid back and care free around serious situations cause he saved the planet when he was ten. Like I depicted in the story, Having Ben in there changed Chuck's life. He is still awkward with dating but he is not a loser. He became a professor . Pierce Wheels becoming Bryce Larkin was a spot on cause I needed someone who would entrust Ben with Intersect not chuck.**

 **Dun dun...butterfly clapped its wings. Let your imagination flow and think what Ben would do in next episode**


	2. Chapter 2

The light from the sun streamed in through the small window covered by a set of blinds that only did a half-assed job of actually keeping said rays of blinding luminescence from getting through. One brown haired, emerald eyed young man groaned in discontent as his eyes flickered open very briefly. They closed almost immediately after as they were hit by a beam of light so bright the young man thought he might go blind.

Damn that sun. Couldn't it have picked a better time to rise? Or better yet, not risen at all? One of these days he was going to find some way to turn it off.

Or blow it up.

He would prefer blowing it up.

Grunting slightly, the brown haired male slowly sat up in bed, stifling a yawn with one hand as he did. Oh how he hated mornings. They always seemed to come at the worst times.

They actually didn't. He just wasn't much of a morning person.

As the brown haired youth began to gain more cognitive thoughts, he stretched himself out, turning this way and that as he raised his hands high into the air and listened to his back pop and crack in a way that would make most people cringe. Albeit, It did hurt him a bit, He was yet to make 6% of his physical recovery but that didn't stop him doing crazy but surely, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson got out of bed and made his way into the bathroom with a stumbling gait and slightly wincing in pain.

It was just another day of his new life.

After making his way towards the shower and turning on the water, Ben ran a hand through his messy locks of brown hair before turning to look at himself in the mirror. He let out a small smile, He wasn't disappointed in himself, Even a little bit.

At nearly 26 years of age, Ben was quite pleased with what he saw. While he had always been fit, In his teenage years he was a bit scrawny and thin. Initially, Unlike Kevin he lacked in the muscle department. However as time went past he hit quite a bit of growth spurt. He couldn't be considered body building type in anyway but now he had above average athletic build which wasn't bad. It wasn't bad at all. The career he had as superhero and a rescue pilot wore him off more than he would admit. Artificial bones placed in his shoulders never felt natural, But he was still happy he had them especially after the brutal beatings he got from Aggregor and Vilgax. Not to add his new injuries he got after the new scuffle he had been in Iraq. If it wasn't for some sort of magical ritual thing from Gwen, It would have taken way more time than this. Albeit, She kept it low profile but still his physical recovery had attracted a lot more attention than he though. Thank god it wasn't on the level of miracle, He couldn't handle dealing with them anymore. Especially when plumbers were "abscent"

Absently, Ben raised both his hands and pressed them on the spiky green symbol on his chest. He yelled names of several aliens and slammed on the symbol several times. Apart from a gourmand symbol and a conductoid symbol, Nothing else appeared

He focused for a moment, looking both inward and outward, his eyes staring intently at his stomach while his mind, body and soul searched for something he had been dearly hoping to feel again since last ten years, His other heroes...

After a second or two, he sighed.

"Still nothing except **Upchuck and Feedback**..."

There was not even a hint of what he had been looking for. Ten long years and the watch still didn't recover even a single one of his transformations. Man, talk about depressing.

He shook his head and slapped himself on the cheeks to get out of his minor funk. It would be best to not dwell on it. It wasn't like he regretted or missed his "hero time". Being a hero wasn't as spectacular as he once thought. It was a drag, actually. He now understood that the Supermans and Batmans didn't do it for the thrill; they did it because it they were needed. Threats were minor or non existent now a day, Without supervillains to create chaos, No superhero was needed. So about this time not being hero time,

He was truly glad.

The shower began to steam and Bem stepped in, groaning as the heat caused his aching muscles in his back and shoulders to loosen. He pressed his palms against the wall of the shower and let the hot liquid run down his frame and mat his hair to his head. It felt so good, especially after a hard fight of 10 months trying to get his ruined body back into shape. That old saying that you never knew what you had lost until it was gone had never rung more true to him than it did now.

After his shower Ben 10, The former superhero and honorably discharged rescue pilot was ready to face the day which was about to start by filling his empty stomach. Today was going to be a good day, He could feel it.

Albeit, He could be proven wrong. Usually back in old days he was proven wrong cause it was such days when a superbaddie paid him a visit. Thankfully, None of them were around. He sighed in relief as he sat on the couch. Basically today was his interview day, Which meant he was about to start looking for a job. While government still paid him and his disability checks weren't going to stop for atleast next six months, Sitting on his ass for the whole time was unbearable for him. Ben hated boredom with passion. However, The offers he got for temporary jobs were not matching his interests. Especially the ones with the designation of software engineer or analyst or Data entry. Ben wanted some kickass job, like his previous one. He kinda got one right after that but his training for USCP couldn't begin for next nine months. Carrying a badge was always better than sitting behind a desk.

At first, Only he knew how he cracked the enterance and the whole degree program at the USCGA. Operational research and computer analysis, Such a long name and even longer study curriculum. Only reason Ben managed to pass with above average marks was none other than his eidetic memory and his one point desire to get done with it. At that time he just wanted to run away from things, Finding a way to get back to hero business. Just to satisfy his savings people syndrome. It wasn't his fault, He lost his parents and the Ultimatrix. Best course of action was to leave Bellwood behind , Even if it hurt feelings of his family and friends. Anyways, he saved a lot of lives and did loads of amazing things as a rescue helo pilot. He didn't regret it, Even for a single moment.

At last, He felt some disappointment as Bellwood highschool rejected his application for the PE teacher post, Just cause he refused to sign the two year contract. Apart from that one, He wasn't interested in any other temporary jobs. It wasn't his favorite part but he really wanted to teach children play soccer. Well, Tough luck, Now he needed to find something which he could do for remaining nine months

"Don't worry Master Tennyson, Right thing will always find its way towards you"

A familiar voice stopped his train of thoughts. Feeling startled he turned around only to come face to face with the time walker himself.

Just like always Paradox had a mysterious ghastly aura around him. He was in his full professiorial glory. Ben smiled at seeing his old ally. The time walker had helped him many times in the past and even after he lost the Ultimatrix, More like loosing the device's ability to transform, Paradox still paid him visit every now and then. Which sometimes had cryptic suggestions which saved his life. Just like the last time he advised Ben to keep luck near him, Ben wore the lucky charm of bezel and it saved his life from deadly chopper incident. The time walker and the former superhero shared a unique and fond relationship

"Aha! Professor nice seeing you here, Came to offer me gumballs?" Ben joked

"Well, Not this time. I just came to say Hi and to congratulate you. You are going to become the proud uncle of the greatest future female president of United states to ever exist"

" Whoa! That's cool. I guess Gwen's children will have that in blood. If not her then her children, So in some ways future doesn't change" Ben smiled, Remembering his past meeting with Ultimate Ben and what he told him about future, He added with a bit of curiosity

"Ha ha, So are you finally gonna tell me what future has in store for this Ultimate Ben 2?"

"I wish I could Benjamin but I can't give away too much spoilers." Paradox replied with a grin

"Well you are bound to offer some, Otherwise you wouldn't be here. So what is it? I hope this isn't cause of Eons and Vilgys or grim reaper coming to my way again"

"Nah! We have another Bens to handle those issues. I just decided to paid you visit cause of some life changing events coming to your way" Paradox spoke in a serious tone.

Ben straightened himself at hearing the change in time walker's demeanor. He asked with a raised eyebrow, " What lifechanging events?"

"Nothing much! Just a word of advice. Take an aspirine before reading emails and when in doubt, Trust vicky vale" Paradox spoke cryptically and vanished in a flash.

"Argh! This man and his riddles, It's been eleven years and I still don't know what this man means, Even a single world" Ben groaned in frustration. Now he was a bit used to paradox's appearances and disappereances but figuring out what he means, Even Ben 10000 would have a hard time figuring this out. However he didn't have much time to dwell on this matter, Suddenly his phone rang with a different ringtone and vibrated. Ben blinked, This was an email notification on his personal email id.

Logically, Ben used two email ids. One was for his professional and uniform purpose, Another was for his friends and family, Which was apparently connected to his smart phone. Ben opened the screenlock of his smartphone and went straight at the app which showed his email id. His inbox was basically filled with loads of " get well soon", "How have you been", "We miss you", " Let's meet sometime" kind of messages. Which was pretty common for someone who spend most of their year in Alaska or Places affected by natural calmities cause that was used to be his job, Rescuing people by putting himself in danger. A name on his inbox caught his attention

Bryce Larkin

Ben blinked several times. Why the hell would Pierce email him? That was usually preferred personal contact or indirect messages to communicate, He was in spy business so he can't afford to leave any traces behind. Plumbers badges were very useful in communication for such profession and Pierce used it occassionaly. For birthday greetings, Arranging a secret reunion for Ex Plumbers etc. Why the hell he would contact him such way.

Was he in somesort of trouble? Ben looked at the email with squinty eyes before touching the screen of his phablet. Quite surprisingly, It was a file with .zrk extension. Which was something he didn't hear much about. While Ben did have a degree in computers, He didn't...expand his horizons much. He studied it only for the sake of completing his degree and get into flying school. Ben scratched his head several times, Trying to recall what .zrk meant. The extension was similar to that of text based RPGs those nerdy students created as project back at his college.

Zork?...

Yeah, Now he recalled the name. Chuck mentioned creating something like that back at stanford. That must be it! He touched it once again, causing the screen to black out

The white text flashed on his screen

"What scares the shit out of the protector of the planet?

Ben let out a groan, What kind of question was that? Was Pierce trying to get on his nerves by playing this sick joke? Or This was somesort of way to making sure who opens the email

"Peacocks" Ben typed

The screen became alive once again .

And now, Ben thought, here comes the message, and suddenly a video/image slideshow started playing on the media player

There was a flicker—a picture of binoculars? Another picture—a guy getting his eye inspected, athletes on a track, dogs running, the pope. Apple pie. Ben took a step back, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Something strange seemed to be happening inside his head. Everything in his brain bogged down, became logy. He tried to look away from the screen, but couldn't pull his gaze away. So he watched, standing, while image after image, video after video, blurred and seared and burned into his mind. Before long, it all became a blur. He just stood for what it seemed like hours to him with his eyes glued to the screen—

Until the I phone clicked off on its own.

"I should have taken an aspirine before that!"

Ben Tennyson did the only thing he could. He stood up and went in search of some aspirin to quiet the little man with the sledgehammer that was beating on his eyeballs. After throwing water on his face for atleast an hour, He finally felt like himself. He looked at the watch

It was 12 in afternoon. Whoa! He woke up around 7 am in the morning and opened email just 30 minutes after that! He had just felt like his mind had been through thousand transformations, Which was terribly exhausting.

 _What the hell did you do to me Pierce?_

He pulled out his drawer and took out his old plumber's badge. He pressed on its dial and put the necessory co ordinates to call his best friend, Kevin Levin. If there was someone who he could trust to go through hell for him. That was Kevin

The symbol blinked back and the hologram of a black haired man with a strong physique appeared, He had a cocky grin on his face like always. Albeit, The teasing look of his had mellowed down a lot, Cause of becoming a father. His belt spotted a LAPD symbol

" Yo! Benji, Don't you have a phone? This thing is kinda out of fashion now a days"

"I know Kev, My phone is kinda fried out right now!"

"No prob buddy, So everything is alright? You seem to be tensed. Look, You don't have to worry about Gwen, She is having some health issues but we can easily manage. It's an anodyte thing. Besides its much more smoother than it was with Devlin" Kevin spoke in a reassuing tone

"I understand that very well Kev, Gwen's a tough girl. The reason I called you is on an entirely different matter" Ben sighed

"Is it something serious? Like our old days serious thing?"

"Depends, Have you heard about an alien technology which can project images in people's mind through email?" Ben asked in a serious tone

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kevin dumbfounded

XxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxx

Graham stepped back to his desk and looked at the strange device Larkin had in his possession last night. The wrist computer was very similar in design to Larkin'a laptop - the one they had confiscated from Walker - and Larkin had apparently put too much faith in its durability and the reliability of its self-destruct mechanism. It had been damaged during Larkin's escape, seemingly preventing the destruction protocols from fully functioning as intended.

NSA analysts had spent the remainder of last night and most of the morning analyzing the device, sidestepping three boobytraps - non-lethal ones that had been designed as failsafes to destroy components of the device if tampered with - and were fortunate to finally narrow the destination to Los Angeles less than an hour before he had reestablished contact with Agent Walker.

They were as surprised that a direct message had been sent as they were that the device had been capable of compressing and sending the Intersect files. Beckman had exercised her authority over the program and ordered her own personal fixer to prep, depart tonight and organize his team on site tomorrow.

Graham was still hopeful that they had enough time to get ahead of this situation and wouldn't volunteer his suspicions about the recipient until the NSA found something more difinitive on their own. He was fairly certain to whom the message had been sent and would begin with him. NSA would just have to catch up.

Larkin had been a pain in his ass since he became an agent - his corpse had even been mislaid sometime after he was officially declared dead - but he had also been extremely effective over the past four years. Larkin's notion of what it was to be a spy was largely influenced by adolescent movie viewing and Graham chose to encourage that notion. It gave the program something to latch onto. But he was nearly as proficient as Walker in some areas and Graham had opted to tolerate the newly intensified arrogance if Larkin continued to perform as well in the field as he had early on.

He had also caused a lot of trouble with Graham's imbedded recruiting efforts at Stanford when he had attempted to get one of his frat buddies recruited by falsifying several records and test results. He had claimed that his friend was a genius with electronics and there wasn't a system in existence that he couldn't hack.

He had later apologized for trying to deceive Graham, said he had oversold his friend's capabilities and admitted that his friend had been stealing test answers, even selling them to other students. Larkin himself had turned his friend in to school officials when he had discovered evidence of this.

Due to his reputation and obvious intellectual capacity to achieve the grades reflected in his record, the University had been prepared to reprimand him, strip him of his scholarship, require him to fulfill community service obligations and possibly repeat - or at least make him test out of - several classes with even the appearance of grades that were potentially undeserved.

In his anger at the whole situation, Graham had privately accused Larkin's friend of hacking government databases - one of the skills that Larkin had been so complimentary of - and demanded his expulsion. It was admittedly mostly to punish Larkin by hurting someone Graham had thought was close to him. However he had failed horribly due to a divine intervention

Maxwell Billius Tennyson, His old pal/ rival from Airforce appered out of nowhere and the first man to walk on the moon had used all of his influences and friends to shield him. Graham was not only forced to back down but he got several harsh lashings from president himself. For the first time in his life he was forced to reach out to some people to save his ass, Finally he had to personally apologize to Max and pleaded him to talk with the President. Maxwell agreed to back down and forgave his old protege once he offered to make some amends to Chuck. He had no idea that Larkin's friend could be related with the legendary Max of Area 51. It hurt his pride and the fact stung him forever that how such skilled man refused to join any sort of Secret service despite so much insistence from government. Instead he chose to waste his potential with NASA. Instead of saving the country, He decided to choose the path of glory and even after so many years, After so many steps he had climbed to hierchy, Max Tennyson was able to shake his whole world just by some phone calls. Even after wasting his years, Even after becoming a no body, Max was capable of pulling strings in a way he couldn't even imagine. It reminded him once again how Max was choosen to lead the secret service, Not him He was always the first choice, The golden child, The star of black ops. Not him...not him. Max had always found ways to prove himself better than him, Always. Even after becoming Director of CIA, Max could crumble his position any time in a day.

If it was a battle of egos, He won't let Tennyson have last laugh. After the last scuffle six years ago which invoked the old spirit of competition inside of him. Then he decided to turn his attention to Max's family, Especially his favorite grandchildren. He had no interest in Mary's children, Besides he didn't want to invoke Max's wrath once again. But that would be a funny way to get back at the first Man who walked on moon. His legacy working for the same people he looked with so much disgust, Same spy business he hated passionately. His own blood doing things he himself wouldn't do in his dreams, His own blood proving him wrong. Yes, That would be his way of defeating Max, Proving himself better than him

He turned his attention to the terrific trio, Max's closest and the most gifted set of grand children who had the same monstrous ability and gigantic potential same like their legendary grandfather and remarkable aunt Mary. He studied all three of them. Kenneth Tennyson was a highly decorated member of USMC and he perished in the grand operation to bring down Al Qaida. It was unfortunate, He would have made a great recruit. Second one was bright and beautiful Gwen Tennyson, A head scientist working for Center for Diseases Control, She was married to an even more interesting person, Kevin Levin. Senior detective who led the Counter Terrorism and Special Operational Bureau , LAPD and his success ratio could easily put any secret agency to shame. Unfortunately the couple was beyond his reach because of their highly favorable positions at another agencies which made them untouchables.

Last but not the least, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, A rescue pilot working for USCG, Whose abilities and personality resembled more like his old friend, Max himself. He was an interesting individual. Made MVPs several times in soccer matches held during RIMPAC exercises, Winning against Navel officers of different countries. Carried out rescue missions which were impossible and suicidal in nature. Especially the one where his chopper was over loaded with survivers and he refused to leave any of them behind. In a death defying manner he used the tidal ways to propel the chopper and survived. It was not this one time, He wrestled with natural calmities many times and managed to came out on top. This earned him a nickname "Pelican"

Back at flying school, His performance was impressive. A couple of years ago he was choosen for Combat Rescue offficer training and stationed in Iraq. The last assignment he completed was a major success, Pulling out three guys out of enemy area despite being so much heavily injured, That was some determination. However, His succes was in an area which was highly useless for his agency which made it harder to actually putting a file to recruit him. Besides in normal situations Admiral Pateliday, A very good friend and confidante of Max wouldn't allow it. He was in a protected environment and which was the only thing stopping CIA from reaching him. Despite passing the famed image test with flying colors seven years ago, He was forced to let go of him cause Pateliday was much smarter than he thought. He entered him in the flying school, A place where Ben wouldn't be touched without causing too much attention.

But now tables have turned, After a long time tables have finally turned. The intersect had found its way towards the person who had full compability with it even from the begining of Project Omaha, Ben Tennyson.

Graham polished off his drink and reached into his top right desk drawer. He smirked as he took out fifty two cards which had cartoonish cowboy poster on its label

'Omaha Playing Cards"

The cards which represented his handful of agents, His soldiers involved in various projects. Some of them defied through own rankings and rised while some of them were dead now. He tore apart the Jack of Hearts which had BL written on it and took out two jokers. His wild cards, One had BT written over it while another had SW written in it. His enforcer and well worn favorite toy, Sarah Walker. The best killer to ever exist but she was his killer. Dozen of missions where she had been the only one to walk away, almost always completely unscathed.

Death incarnate.

He still didn't why exactly Bryce dragged Lt Ben Tennyson into all this. They had no connection, No communication. In fact Ben Tennyson was spending time at a military health facility, Recovering from his wounds. The last meeting they had at Stanford where according to Bryce Tennyson had briefly humiliated and beaten him, " Bribed" authorities to save Chuck and causing further humiliation by Framing him and Flaming in return. His degree was almost pulled away from him. In his interviews and training Bryce cursed Ben many many times and wanted to take revenge upon him for one time, Which was unbeknownst to him Pierce's trick to hide his real connection with team Tennyson, The plumber managed to fool the whole CIA. Graham smiled, That was it! Bryce was a problem child but in his last breath he did what Graham wanted to do for years, His attempt to take revenge upon Ben had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Larkin served his purpose atlast.

Sarah Walker, His mind drifted to her once again. While her skill and abilities were unparallel, Her Psyche was getting affected. Sometimes she would look at herself with disgust. Her detachment to everyone was both her greatest power and weakness. This life of betrayal and lies had worn her off. Someday she would break, It was inevitable. But not before fullfilling her final project. He crushed the maniacal comedian with B T written over it and put it under SW card

"Champ, Isn't that what they called you in RIMPAC soccer matches? You may be good enough but this time you have entered my game Benjamin. When my enforcer reaches you, You will have to bend to my rules. You have no other option "

He took out the crumpled card and threw it inside the dustbin

" This time, I win and You lose Max. Congratulations Ben , Your life as the property of CIA begins right now!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxx

Basically how can your day turn into awesome to worst , No one could explain this better than Ben. Infact he could write a book about it. His all attempts to call Pierce's plumber's badge had failed horribly. Kevin had no fucking idea about what had happened but promised to look into it. He was sure that Kev would figure out something, Even if it took some time. Apparently, Ben always lacked patience. He could do anything but wait. After facing such dangers in his teenage years, Nothing should trouble him now but like a great man said

Life always have surprises for you even if you are a superhero who had saved the universe multiple times.

He must have been born under a wrong star for having such misfortune. Well, It may be true considering the crap he had been through or being normal had turned out much harder then he initially thought. Well, Well, That was debatable. He wished his mom and dad were still alive, They could make anything easy. He let out a sigh once again, Situation wasn't that much bad. He had handled worse in past. All he needed was a bit of fresh air and everything will be alright. May be meeting a beauty would change his day, Lady luck could always change things

Overall he had been lucky in female department, He wasn't a playboy but his single statuses weren't known to last longer than a couple of weeks usually. Let it be a co worker or civilan he saved from drowning, Physios treating him...He had always managed to more than catching their attention. Well, But due to his unique career choice and transfers, He didn't have any long lasting commitments since a very long time. May be ever since Easter. Not having someone to connect emotionally and mentally was a bit exhausting. Anyways he briefly locked the door of his apartment and dashed out of it pretty quickly.

Deciding to visit a nearby sandvich place or smoothies shop. He visited a sandvich place yesterday and there was a very pretty girl working there. Her name was Lou. Unfortunately her preferences had turned out to be vastly different than he thought and Ben didn't study hard enough at the academy unlike Chuck. So when the golden moment came and her smartphone crashed, She was panicking really hard. Chuck came to rescue and Ben backed away. There was no fun competting with the family and Chuck needed a girl, Atleast for his birthday bash to go easy. Then they clicked and clicked so much well that was their first date. Chuck had borrowed Ben's fancy car to impress Lou and considering how she was swept over her feet, Chuck must be having a very good time. May be this birthday party wouldn't be much boring for him. Well, He needed to act fast, He didn't want to stick with Morgan for whole night. While the adorable idiot was a very good friend and reliable, He wasn't the most preferrable company in parties. Especially when you have a bossy cousin/adopted syster hovering over you.

He was still going to visit Buy More though. His phone had been completely fried up and likewise he needed to visit his old friend. Otherwise he would feel "abandoned". Ben decided to take a long walk before that, Just to calm his mind from all that headache and overloading memories

The breeze blew gently, stirring up a few leaves on the ground. It was really peaceful, That's why Ben bought an apartment here three years ago, after selling his paternal house. King drive was near to both the echo house and city hospital. He walked closer to trees as sudden images clouded his mind. The words Elena Treatfoot echoed in his mind as an image of a blond assain killing three persons with heavy proficiency. Another image was about her once again, Now she was wearing a red dress and standing with Pierce, Both looked intimate

Or it was an act. A very very good act

Ben Tennyson was one of the rare people who knew Pierce's real secret, He was a gay. Which made Ben still wonder about Jill Roberts? Why she took Bryce's name then? Even if he didn't swing that way?

It was a mystery, Waiting to be solved

Ben couldn't see the blonde's face, He tried really hard but he couldn't make out who she was clearly.

The next minute, the loud blare of a car horn brought Ben back to his senses. He

looked at the car, hearing the tires squeal as they tried to stop. At the last second, He jumped to the side, landing on the ground. When the car came to a stop, the driver stepped angrily out of his damaged car which was slammed in a tree trunk. He was barely in his fourtys and he looked foreign.

"What the fuck are you doing bastard? You totally messed up my front, Who is going to pay for that?"

"Look, I am really... Before Ben could complete the sentence another image flashed in his mind

Several buildings exloding

A white prisom laptop

The man wearing militia uniform with the flag of Serbia

"Jonathan Yokowich, Demolition expert, Terrorist for hire" Ben spoke in a monotonus tone causing the man to stumble backwards in shock. He quickly recovered from his stupor and brought out his concealed weapon

"Who are you shit head? NSA, CIA or some regular badge. Who the hell are you?" The man yelled as he tightened his grip on the revolver

"A guy having a really really bad day" Ben yawned " So its true? You really are a bomber? Well then I have kick your sorry ass and hand you over to authorities! Sorry, I just hate bombs, Nothing personal!"

"Well, Same here bastard. I am going to empty all metal inside your head"

"I don't think so! **Feedback** " Ben smirked and slightly tapped on his chest. A bright green flash engulfed the area just like it did in Iraq when he pulled three soldiers from wreckage of crashed chopper and blew out enemy aircrafts by energy bolts.

He may not be The Ben 10 anymore and lost his fancy transformations but he still have powers. He is Ultimate Ben, Just with two transformations.

Before the Terrorist could know what was happening, A lightning bolt slammed on his chest and he was smashed into a sturdy tree with the force of canonball. His lifeless body rolled on the ground with a crunch, Which was the sound of his bones breaking.

With a bright grin once again he pressed the dial on his plumber's badge

"Kev, I just saved Burbank and if you want some extra medals in your closet, You should get your ass down here, ASAP. Who knows you may even get a promotion for this Terrorist, "

"Gotcha, I am informing the Unit ASAP, Just stay there Okay and thanks for not being the gloryhound!"

"Oh! Thank you, Greedy Dog!" Ben joked

" Jokes aside! I asked around our friends and my people, Nothing solid is coming out. But Lucy is on other line, She insists that you should talk to her!"

"Okie! I am getting that" Ben sighed as he changed the frequency of his badge, Causing an attractive brunnete replacing Kevin's hologram

" How's my favorite muddy cousin doing?" Lucy Mann asked with a charming smile, She was Ben's only relative who was registered with Plumber family book but not human government.

" As usual, Kicking asses! How bout you?" Ben greeted in jovial tone

"You should keep the ass kicking down for a while, NSA and CIA had started running background checks on you. They might even try to bring you in, So I advice you to conceal anything which is from your Old days. And Do not transform, I repeat do not transform. You will be under survaillance with in 30 minutes. So don't show anything suspicious. This time Magistara isn't around to do memory things" Lucy spoke in serious tone , warning him

" Well, Why me? I didn't...wait a minute, Don't tell me its because of a stupid email!" Ben snarled

"Bryce slash Pierce stole government secrets and sent them to you. Why? We don't know. The agencies are asking the same questions.I am confused too, A plumber would never betray the country and put you in such position"

" Normal government have such memory transplant techs?"

"I dunno Benji, I work for DEA not CIA or NSA. Look, I am coming there next week to ensure you get through this without blowing your ass" Lucy spoke in a reassuring tone

"Are you sure? I can handle myself in any situations" Ben dumbfounded

" Believe me Ben, Superhero world and spy world are too much different. You won't be able to play this game. Besides. If I am right, CIA is going to send her after you. She is my friend but I don't want you anywhere near her, Especially as a target!" Lucy snapped

"Umm...Who is she?"

"It doesn't matter Benji, Just don't freak out when I meet you next time. I will do some oscar level acting, Spy business , Ya know. You remember my cover name, Right?"

" You have a cover name?"

" I have many" Lucy smiled " Next time, You see me, Call me Carrina...Carrina Hansen. And this is going to be so much fun."

"I hate your idea of fun and handcuffs! Do me a favor and let me handle this" Ben groaned

"You are such a spoilsport Benji!" With a smile Lucy closed the communication line and Ben put the badge back in his pocket and started waiting for the police to arrive

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With in moments several LAPD vehicles had pulled out in the ally, Just like Ben promised before he stayed there. Police checked the unconscious man and his car. They found several passports, lap tops, currencies and all sorts of illegal stuff. And yeah, They did find the bomb. A do not cross line were was put on the spot as several policemen searched the Serbian's equipments. From the blue prints they found and information on his cellphone, The terrorist had plans to blow up an entire building and hit the maximum population count. Most probably his target was some VIP, Well there was name Stanfield written on a briefcase. Which probably meant the Nato guy who was all over TV now a days. Anyways, Ben wasn't sucker on details and politics. He saved the day, It was all that mattered

The senior detective took a look at Ben's official ID once again then looked back at the uninterested plumber who was drinking Four arms flavored smoothies

"Lt Ben Tennyson, You are Levin's brother in law right? How the hell did you run into this guy and identified him as terrorist" He asked with a bit of annoyance

"Oh! I just watched it on BBC someday but my memory is pretty sharp. Once I got a look I figured out what should I do" Ben replied disregardly, Starting to take bytes of his chilly fries

"Engaging with a terrorist? That's a dumb move and you don't even have any concealed weapons, That was a dumb thing to do. You are lucky that things turned out to be in your favor" The Officer reprimended, Ben sighed Kevin's friend had a big stick stuck into his ass

"Take it easy Rob, The kid got the job 's all that matters" Another officer, Who seemed to be more lighthearted spoke out in Ben's favor

"Yeah yeah fine! So how exactly you disarmed the Terrorist and knocked him out?" The Senior officer asked in a stern voice causing Ben to frown

"Element of surprise and Chilly sauce, I guess!" Ben replied nonethless

Before the Officer could ask anything again, A blue porche just stopped infront of the stop line, Ben didn't pay much attention to it. Many People were already standing there, Making this a large scene.

"Well, Whatever way you did it, You really kicked his ass. This guy was a hot shot, There is some Financial Reward interpol put on him, Not to forget about other government agencies and of course General Stanfield wants to thank you personally. So he had invited you to his speech, Where he is going to praise you for your bravery. You are going to be famous Kiddo"

Ben laughed, Getting famous...Wasn't that what he wanted during his childhood. Well, Things have changed and he had grew up from that phase

"Thanks but no thanks, I really don't want any sort of spotlight right now. Besides today is my cousin's birthday party which I am not allowed to miss, Family comes first." Ben shrugged, If he did't go Ellie would surely make the whole year horrible for him.

"You are getting a medal, A check of atleast fourty grand and applauses of thousands of Powerful people. If I was you, I wouldn't miss such chance. It could do wonder for your career, If you are actually going into Capitol Police after some time" The senior detective advised

"Well Being a hero is not about letting others know you did good things but its about you knowing that you did good things. I stopped a terrorist attack and it feels awesome. I don't need any medal or money for that" Ben argued, Honestly he had enough cash in banks and his salary was more than enough to live a good lifestyle. He didn't need more money and fame, Well fame had been the most unlucky thing for him

"Look buddy, All I am telling is...Vicky Vale...Vicky Vale" Ben's eyes widened as the younger officer stammered a bit, Repeating the words Vicky Vale several times

"Not even Kim Basinger looked like that in Batman" The senior detective spoke under his breath, Ben blinked and turned around in curiosity.

Only to see a gorgeous blonde, Who appeared to be a super model walking towards them. She was wearing the same sort of clothes, The comic character wore in that Batman movie. Obviously she was very pretty and she matched the description, Lucy had sent him before. Infact she matched the image almost one hundred percent. When Ben looked at her, She gave him a charming smile which could easily melt the hearts

"Is there everything alright Officers? All these Sniffer dogs and bomb squad are here, It's not anything dangerous ,right? I really hate to go back to DC but safety comes first" The Woman asked in a honeylaced voice which had adverse effect on the cops. Suddenly she turned to Ben and asked in a highly panicked tone

"Is it some sort of terrorist attack, Officer?"

"I am not a Cop, Miss and Don't worry, Baddie has been caught and the day is saved. You can enjoy the sights of this beautiful city" Ben facepalmed, She really deserved an Oscar for such natural acting. He still had a chance if he could escape while Police is here then contact Lucy again about what to do

"Look, Det. Jones. I don't have my car right now and I am in a bit of hurry, Can I please go?" Ben asked the LAPD officials

"Ofcourse Lt, But not before clearing things here. Let's have some civilian opinion on this Miss, This guy had single handedly apprehanded A notorious terrorist by putting his life on risk and stopped a chain bombing from taking place. But now he wants to play it low and refusing to accept any sort of reward or recognition, Isn't that unfair?" The overenthusiastic younger officer exclaimed

Ben let out a groan, This guys can't let a thing go. Can they? He just wanted to get out of here ASAP

"No that's unfair, I mean totally unfair." The blonde spoke with an innocent voice " But why are...oh sorry, I never asked your name, I am Sarah Walker by the way" She extended her hand in a friendly manner

"I am Ben Tennyson" He responsed the exact same way and shook her hand. He had no other option right now. He can't let her know, He had been informed about her. He had to keep things natural and be ignorant

"It's not that much of a big deal, I was just doing my job and if this could be arranged any other day, I would make sure to attend. Anyways if there is financial reward please donate it to Orphanages and hospitals, That would be a great idea" Ben groaned towards the officials

"Okay, We will see if anything can be arranged on your terms or General can meet you personally at some place. You are free to go Ben Tennyson. We will make sure to have a mention in the press conference" The head detective spoke for one last time before joining up with the investigation.

" All is well when end is well, Now I gotta find a cab to Buy More" Ben let out a sigh in relief before clasping his jacket

"Oh! You are going to Buy More too?" Sarah asked with a smile

He and his big fat mouth, Ben growled inwardly

"I need to get my phone fixed and meet a friend who works there, And I am late. So I should take my leave" Ben replied with his usual grin and started walking away.

"Wait a min! I could drop you there" Sarah called from behind

"Oh! I can manage on my own. No need to worry" Ben shrugged, He needed time to regroup about what was going on with his life right now!

" It's not for you actually, It's for me. I am new here so I need someone to show me around. So I would be really greatful if you will lead me to Buy more. My phone is broken too" Sarah spoke with the same charm once again

"Umm... I am not the best guide around"

" I can manage. Come on, Don't be shy and Get in the car " With a grin the blonde softly pulled him towards her porsche and Ben was dragged behind helplessly. He sighed, She must have some sort of plan about what to do with him, He was sure of it. But for now he would rather play along, Letting her think she is winning. Which might keep things neutral and in control. The problem, He actually didn't know what to do. Talk or not to talk but she wasn't going to leave him any options. Plumber's training didn't include this.

"So Ben, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Ah! You see, I am a rescue pilot in coast guard. So my transfers and assignments get in way of my relationships. Besides I was really busy learning to walk again in a medical facility since last seven months. So obviously I didn't have time to actually talk to a girl" Ben explained casually

"Oh, I understand that pretty well." The blonde gave him a nod as she started the Car

"So what about you? I am one hundred percent sure, A breathtaking beauty such as yourself must have hundreds of prince charmings waiting for your one smile" Ben mustered his best Michael Morningstar and spoke with an artificial smile

Sarah smiled, So he wasn't immune to her charms. Well that made the mission easier. It was just an observe and extract mission though. The guy infront of her wasn't the enemy cause he had nothing to do with the situation. The only fault he had was his capacity to absorb large amounts of data. The most compatible person to use the intersect. The intersect was useless as an electronic media but in someone's mind, That could do wonders. Graham had a doubt that Bryce had someone waiting for him outside when he stole intersect, The perfect way to transmit Intersect was putting it in someone's head . Bryce did the same, He chose to screw up with Ben cause he was the only one capable of carrying Intersect in his head. He was the perfect selling product on black market and a very good research material for upgrading the incomplete Intersect. Well the analyst also suspected that it was a silly spelling mistake and the email was supposed to go to someone called Charles Bartowski. But Tennyson's email ID was too similar and like Graham said Bryce messed with auto filling feature and send Intersect to Ben, Instead of Chuck. Considering auto fill worked before Bryce could realise his mistake

Which meant she had to check about this Bartowski too. If he was into all these, Lt Ben Tennyson was screwed and Intersect could be in their enemy's lap any moment. Bartowski was related to Tennyson and get to him anytime he wanted.

This guy was a good person, Unlike them he saved lives and had a non killing military career. Even from the first meeting, She felt genuially touched by his selflessness and his innocent smile. Well she would have some fun until Graham pulls extraction orders, Which meant atleast a couple of weeks. Then things would be open and ugly but she had some time, Some time to officially live as a normal girl

"Did anybody tell you, You are a terrible flirt?" She joked causing Ben to get startled. He scratched his head, Trying to be natural once again

"Oh! I am telling the truth Sarah. It's not flirting" Ben spoke casually, Albeit with some effort

"Truth is always stranger than fiction Ben, Anyways I had a best friend who I used to like but he turned out to be Gay" She sighed dejectedly

"I am so sorry to hear that! Heartbreaks are the worst things happening to anyone" Ben played along once again

"Yep, But we quickly worked out things and became besties once again. Enough about that, I really don't know anyone around here so I was wondering if you could hang out with me and show me around. If you are free?" Sarah asked with a playful smile. A perfect cover to protect the Intersect and examine this supposed threat called Bartowski.

Ben sighed, If he said no, He was screwed. If he said yes, He was screwed too. Yes, He was totally born under a wrong star. However before he could reply, His phone rang. His another phone to be exact.

Ben took out the relatively cheaper and smaller phone out from his pocket and checked the number, Which was familiar

"This seems important, Would you mind?" Ben spoke out politely

"Sure! Take it"

"Heya Kev! Oh yeah I am using Grampa's old cell, Mine is broken. So did you find anything about the email thing? Okie, So how can I contact this buddy of yours? John Casey ..Got that"

Sarah's ears perked at hearing the name, What the hell was this guy thinking? She was informed about his brutish door breaking relative and was ordered to stop him from contacting that guy at any cost. But it seemed that she was late and this Kevin Levin who was nicknamed "Supercop" in FBI and DEA circles had somesort of link with NSA. This Idiotic but brave guy was so eager to solve the puzzle that he had no idea what or who he was trying to call upon him. The intersect was her assignment and it belonged to CIA. Graham had ordered her to make sure it stays that way. She was supposed to stop Tennyson from inviting any other parties to crash in, Let it be CGIS or any other people he could contact through. Quickly she spun the steering and pressed on the accelerator.

Before Ben could finish the conversation, Tires screeched loudly and with a jerk his shoulder was smashed with the door and his phone flew out of the window

 **So this is it, As it turns out Ben still has two transformations and totally not out of game. Max went to moon and still became a plumber. Well, Beckman knows him too and She knows him too intensely for Ben's taste. Grampa Max is a hero but he was used to be a man too. A very handsome man. Ha ha. But rest assured Chuckverse people don't know about plumbers and aliens**

 **Kevin 11 is still supercool without using his powers and Secret agencies knows of him as a "supercop". Bryce is a gay just like Matt Bomer. Which means Sarah doesn't have much of a romantic baggage. And Ben 10 kicks ass of Serbian terrorist as Feedback**

 **So the agencies think, Emails got mixed up because of similar ids and auto fill feature. Which puts Chuck under their suspicion instead of Ben. Besides Graham did want Ben under his thumb, So he clears him out and points fingers to Chuck instead. NSA might work for similar theory, Instead of thinking Ben is traitor. Ah! Hope Ben could save his cousin's ass from CIA and NSA next time**

 **In next chap, Ben goes to Buy more, Meets Morgan Grimes and helps a "tall" little ballerina. He also climbs a tree to save a little cat and try to get through his "date" without getting Sarah suspicious.**

 **That's all for now folks. I hope everyone following this story can leave a review.**


	3. Chapter 3

"I am sorry, I am so so sorry" Sarah apologized profoundly, Acting on her helpless blonde part. However instead of getting angry, Wielder of the Ultimatrix let out a sigh. Obviously that was a dummy call from Kevin. Well Kevin did know John Casey from a few Anti terrorist gigs. According to him he looked like what if Viktor and Vilgax married and had a son. He was a bigger jerkass then Magister Hulka and Kevin wouldn't advise to call him. However he had told him that if Ben was to be approached by any spy agencies, His willingness to contact him could surely throw them back. But he didn't expect that kind of activity from her. If she was government why she would stop him contacting the government? Ben did want to ask her directly but that can raise many questions and he didn't want to do that. He was reckless, Not idiot. Strangely, He wasn't scared. Even if he was sitting next to real life version of Black Widow.

"Well...It wasn't your fault, Must be some reckless driver!" Ben shrugged with a sigh "No need to fret over it, That was useless anyways"

"You really are a sweet guy!" She smiled, Feeling amused at his reasonably gentle and calm tone. He must be freaking out from what had happened to him and trying to get a solution. She intentionally screwed that chance cause she was ordered to. That was a sign of being a good guy. Stopping the terrorist at his life's risk and giving away the reward just like that strongly suggested that. Logically good guys weren't supposed to be caught up in such mess. Only if he had chosen to keep a different e mail id , Then he would not be here in first place. But Bryce used an incompetent device and they were dealing with this situation. Some people were just Fate's favorite toys, She was one of them and she just ran into another one.

"Oh! I really feel flattered Sarah " Ben spoke with a smile , Which was albeit his part of habit. He could joke with Vilgax and flirt with Attea. Laugh out aloud when his mind is blowing out due to fear. A reason behind that was the ensurity of his survival and future. Paradox always said thing would turn out alright in the end for him, Always. Time walker can't lie even if they wants. However what did he mean by trust the Vicky Vale? Did he mean trust this ...spy?

Nah, Can't be. Paradox won't put his life on risk. Ben had seen too much Bond movies and spy novels to trust a female agent. But Paradox told him to trust Vicky vale? Who was Vicky Vale then? To be honest she looked more Miranda Dawson than Vicky Vale

 _"Damn you! Professor Who can't you give me a straight answer?_

May be it was because he can't lie, That's why he spoke in riddles. But Ben was no Azmuth and understanding the riddles can be kinda bothersome. Obviously he can't stay silent for too much time. Bad for his reputation or more like his ego, Which had been greatly decreased over time but still remained and always will. There are things people can't change about themselves. The most notable trait would be an almost unnatural lack of fear in the face of danger, rushing into situations that most people. However before he could open his mouth, Sarah beat him to it

"Ahem! I know usually guys don't have the nerve to ask me out so in some rare occasions like a hero who saved the city, I take the initiative to do it myself" The blonde spoke with a pout which reminded Ben of a goldfish.

Geez! Why does it have to be babes? Why?

"But now he is doing this playing hard to get thing, Which is kinda annoying me"

"Oh! It's not anything like that. I was just thinking about a few things. Sorry, I just zoned out a bit. It's just that I am a bit confused" Ben spoke in a thoughtful tone

"Penny for your thoughts!" She asked with curiosity, The mark's stubbornness was both annoying and intigruing. Annoying in a sense that, She couldn't get a very strong reaction out of him. Infact his reaction wasn't something she can calculate his behaviour on. She knew when she made a move on guy, The guy would make three moves. But this one, This one just exchanged some friendly conversation. At one time he seemed interested but on other hand he acted like as if it was just another wednesday to him. Well, One thing was clear. He was really laid back and if the situation she walked into suggested anything, The guy was apt to rush into dangerous situation with having no regard for himself. Well, Much of it wasn't his fault. He had a unique career choice which placed him through many usual situations. Like Storms, Hurricanes, Tidal waves and last but not the least getting assigned in Afghanistan as a special rescue pilot. So they did have something in common, Life threatening government jobs. Albeit, In a polar opposite way. She was the enforcer, He was the rescuer.

Like an old saying goes, Opposites attract. Which was proving to be true on her part. The chemical process had started on her side.

 **Flashback**

"So the machine malfunctioned and now this random kid has the intersect instead of the guy Bryce wanted to send the intersect? This sounds bad. Who the hell is this guy?" Just past Santa Clarita, the physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted woman once again calling herself Sarah Walker let out a frustrated sigh. Unknown means complications and she hated the complications.

"I would hate to interrupt you there, This guy isn't a kid. He is the pelican" The analyst spoke with a bit hushy voice. She shook out her long, dark hair and felt strange satisfaction at seeing the file flashing infront of her. She put her glasses on confidently, Which made her slightly looking like Baroness. Her fellow analyst was giving her a look, Which she was apparently enjoying.

"Pelican? What the hell are you talking about?" Sarah dumbfounded

"Ah! Mam That's what people call him and I don't think they are wrong" The analyst continued with a grin " Ben Tennyson, An exceptional rescue pilot. But that's not the only thing he is. The report I am looking at is extremely impressive and totally unbelievablr. It's like watching that movie Guardian. They even have the same name. During the world famous fastnet yacht race sponsered by Rolex a catastrophic storm enveloped the competitors. More then twenty yachts went missing. It was apparently a suicide looking for survivers in this mess. Her Majesty's Coast guard was on high alert and the distress calls had left them totally overwhelmed. Weather was extremely bad, It was getting worse every moment. This guy was in England that time, Spending his vacation and he also went to watch the race. He was with his cousin Clyde who deals in plumbing merchandise and they got stuck in this Chaos. Luckily their boat managed to survive through the craziness and they were about to reach a shore. However before they could do that they came across a hospital boat. What happened after that is a history" She concluded with stars in her eyes

"Look, I don't have time for this" Sarah sighed in frustration and added dejectedly " But something tells me you are not going to stop. So shoot!"

"And Emily stop gushing like a high school girl, It doesn't suit you" The male analyst snarled, Obviously not liking the tone of his counterpart.

"I am not gushing over somebody" Emily chided with an angry pout " But he did something worth gushing over. When Ben Tennyson came across the Hospital Boat, It had caught fire and all their means of communication were fried. The first thing he did was to make a call for immediate help. However it seemed that help may not reach in the time, He took it upon himself to help them. By combining weird plumber merchandise and fishing equipments he made some makeshift gear and jumped in for rescue. It was a tough job and the boat was filled with invalid patients, Still he didn't give up and single handedly began the rescue. He tirelessly worked in stressful situation and moved several people safely to his boat. As many as he could. After a while help arrived and AST thanked Lieutenant for showing such courage and ordered him to leave things to them. He agreed but pointed out the most obvious fact, Without any sort of backup it was impossible to save such overwhelming amount of people. The officer of Royal Navy wasn't happy but he couldn't deny the facts. So with much more hesitance they allowed him to help. Which was probably the best decision he could have made. After the mission was complete, The rescue swimmer was too much tired. He didn't has any energy left and somehow in the end he got trapped in the hull. The situation was tricky and the AST knew that the chopper must leave him behind. The risk was much higher and you couldn't sacrifice many lives for one. While the help may arrive in short time, The ship wouldn't survive until then. It was going to explode in , The champ didn't agree and he went down to save him despite the chopper pilot ordering him not to. Even if he went far enough to complain to USCG about their officer disobeying a direct order on the foreign waters, Lt Tennyson didn't stop. They hooked up to the winch and proceed upwards towards the helicopter, As expected their combined weight causes the cable to begin separating. Knowing that the cable would not last, Ben uncliped himself from the cable and plummeted in the sea from a fatal hight as the hospital ship exploded into burst of flames"

"But...but...That's S-suicide" Sarah stutered. Starting to feel moved by the story. Risking your life to protect someone is noble. But even after knowing what was going to happen and willingly sacrificing your self is something entirely else. Killing someone is not so hard, Dying for country is very brave but Dying to save some stranger you don't even know and doing that even when it isn't your job to do, Well...It takes an aweful of heart to do that. She missed a couple of beats thinking about the courageous person who almost gave away his life, Not for the flag, Not for the country but to save a bunch of random strangers. Walker sighed, She shouldn't have asked the analyst to continue.

"It definitely weather worsened and they couldn't return for him for a couple of days. Everyone thought he was dead, They were searching for a body to give him a proper burial. But he turned out alive. He was severely injured though but alive cheated the death and cheated the sea. That's why he was called Pelican by Her Majesty's Coast Guard." The male analyst responded and added with annoyance " I don't think it was any more than sheer luck and adrenaline though. It's not that much of a big deal! Many people survive through natural disasters"

"Not big deal! Not a big deal" Emily frowned , " A Nurse recorded the whole incident and the fall in her phone! It's all over in Youtube. I am going to download it and show it to you two!"

Sarah facepalmed. She didn't need to see anymore of that. She really didn't. However her quirky analyst didn't hear the end of it.

 **Flashback end**

Well, Pictures may have lasting effects on you. Stories can too. They might encourage you to feel empathy and respect for someone. Videos can do a lot more than that. Like the way you feel for the characters you see in TV and movies or even if you are reading a comic. Everyone wants to be the hero but when time comes only rare individuals have what it takes to be one. Ben Tennyson had it in him to be one and it was perfectly normal praising someone who selflessly risked his life to save a boat full of strangers in a foreign land, Even if it was dangerous, Even if it was not his duty, Even if he didn't have any prior rescue swimmer training...He still did it. Remaining on the ship even after the HMCG arrived, which put his job at risk cause not following their orders could reflect pretty badly on his career. However, He chose to do the right thing anyways and earned ire of a lot of high ranked military officials. However, They realized suspending him wouldn't look good on their reputation so he just ended up cleaning decks for a while before returning to his righteous position. Right now she couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration and respect for Ben.

She glanced at the brown haired enigma who seemed to be humming some sort of tune. Lost in his own world. She had to admit , The guy was very cute and he seemed completely in his comfort zone. Which she found amusing. After she joined the CIA, Sarah had blossomed into the beautiful woman she was today. Men did not walk away from her willingly, However Ben did and it marvelled her towards no end.

Still, Despite being remarkable in his own way he looked like a nice unassuming person with a pleasant smile. Just the type she could have easily manipulated. It was like a piece of cake but things were starting to get a bit complex with her own emotions starting to mix in. At first glance it was sympathy, After learning about him from analysts it evolved into respect and curiosity and right now when she finally met him face to face, She found a brave, selfless and handsome young man who was barely twenty six who still seemed to be growing into himself. He His emerald eyes sparkled warmth and playfulness which drew her in. She wondered if he was even aware of the power his presence had over people. Just like a walking talking charm.

Now that she was sitting right next to him, She could smell the faint scent strawberries and felt warmth radiating from him. Especially from his personality. He also had an elegant physical frame along with broad wide shoulders.

Ben smiled once again at his fate as the car stopped near a red signal, Well whatever plan he had made for his holiday were most probably ruined. However, He didn't know what was going to transpire next or more likely who were the heroes and who were the villains. Only time could tell that. Meanwhile, He was starting to feel a bit bored so he decided to move the conversation ahead. He pulled out the earplugs and disconnected them from I-pod as he looked at CIA agent who was staring at him. The wielder of Ultimatrix flashed a charming smile, Doing a perfect Darkstar Imitation.

What else he could do? Frown?

Ben wasn't a great frowner and he wanted to play nice as long as he could. He had no idea what he was into so he might as well go ahead and make plans later. The slightly blushing blonde looked away from him as their eyes met

"Sarah, I gotta thank you for pushing me into taking the ride. Seeing the traffic going haywire like this, I believe I would have been in a big trouble on my own" He spoke rather earnestly

"It's fine!" Sarah said with a charming smile of her own and added with a sigh " I guess the police must have blocked the other road to get the better look at Terrorist's belongings!"

"Oh! You aren't angry at me, Aren't you?" Ben chuckled "You have a right to be, Afterall I caused the traffic issues indirectly"

"I should be theoritically" She rolled her eyes mischieviously and added with a flirtatious tone " But I know you will make it up for that when you will take me out! So I am going to let that slide for now"

"Aw man! I am starting to get scared" Ben covered his face and added jokingly " There isn't much this poor ordinary sailor can do for the beautiful princess. He can never live up to the fair maiden's expectations. Does it mean that his heart is fated to be broken" Wielder of Ultimatrix spoke once again towards his blonde companion's amusement and he pointed towards his heart rather theatrically "This poor sailor is never going to survive this heartbreak! Rejection can lead to emotional stress for both parties involved and emotional stress can lead to physical complications such as headaches, ulcers, cancerous tumors, and even death! "

Few giggles came out of Sarah's mouth naturally. The dramatic pose he struck seemed so adorable, She couldn't decide it was more funny or more cute or both.

"Heya! It's kinda rude to laugh at someone who is revealing the depths of his heart" Ben chuckled, Feeling rather amused at the femme fatale's reaction. He narrowed his eyes inwardly, She must be really good at this. Feigning to be interested in people. However a part of him screamed out loudly that she may not be as much of a Lier as he was thinking

"Geez! I had no idea you were so much melodramatic!" Sarah smiled as she playfully punched him in shoulder, She was trying to find a concise way to describe him, so open and earnest. When she approached the former superhero she had felt in control of the situation. She realized too late that she had somehow completely lost any advantage she may have had and this ride was turning into some sort of impromptu date. Quite amusingly, she found herself looking forward for it

"Ouch! That kinda hurt supergirl" Ben winced mockingly and added in a rather casual tone " You can pack quite a punch, Like Rocky"

"Now you know not to try anything funny with me!" She responded with a playful. She knew he was joking and so was she. However his playful attitude had started to thaw the Ice queen from inside.

"Aye aye! Captain" Ben smiled in return along with a mock salute. He looked out of the window feeling the fresh breeze of air which relaxed his mind a bit. Without even taking a momentary silence he spoke out once again " You are a really funny girl, Aren't you?"

"I can be when I want to!" She said with a cutesy pout and added further " I am slightly curious though regarding why you weren't such forthcoming from the beginning!"

Ben sighed inwardly, How he could answer that question? Cause you are a CIA agent sent to spy over me and I am trying to avoid my confrontation with you.

Nah, That wasn't going to help. It definitely wasn't

"Umm...Are you really asking me this?" Ben asked as he leaned slightly backwards, For the first time he spoke without looking straight into her eyes " This is kinda embarrassing but I was really nervous before. Considering my stay in hospital and all that, I haven't dated since almost one and half year. So I am a little bit out of game. That's why I tried to...you know..." He trailed off a bit nervously

Sarah giggled a bit at her companion's not so confident attitude. Which was kinda adorable and cute. Now that he seemed to be more vulnerable, She tried to strike a few more chords, Wanting to see more reactions coming out from him. She hoped the traffic light would stay red for some more time and won't interrupt her conversation.

"And here I thought you weren't interested in befriending me!" She spoke out rather flirtatiously " May be I should have waited till' you asked me out on your own!"

"Umm... .To be honest I wouldn't have" Ben responded rather meekly, Making it seem like he was a kid who was caught doing something wrong " I may have made a fool of myself in attempt of asking you out and I didn't want to embarrass myself infront of a very pretty girl so I thought I'd rather leave while you had a good impression of me. However I didn't get much success in that. Besides you know..." He joked at the end , Gracefully regaining his confidence" Rejections are really injurious to health"

What bothered Ben was that his uncomfortable response came out too much naturally and he found himself slightly blushing under her scrunitizing gaze. He turned sideways, Fighting back the effects of spell she had supposably put on him. Ben sighed, He needed to get out of here, As much early as he could manage. He can't let her have upper hand in this game and he definitely didn't want to end up in a government lab.

 _"Serves you right for having this effect on me"_ The CIA seductress grinned inwardly

Being surrounded by so much of the abnormal definitely takes its toll on a person, which is probably why being around this seemingly genuine guy was so refreshing. She didn't know, really know, any normal guys ،Just the thought that a normal guy, Especially a proven hero like Ben would be attracted to her was intoxicating. It almost made her feel like a normal life was within her reach. Almost. She measured him up slightly, Wondering why he had to be so much tall! Height was the advantage she used while dealing with Men. He was easily 6' 4" and their height difference was even more exaggerated now that they were so close to one another. She had the random thought - this seemed to be the day for it - that they would fit together perfectly if they danced. None of the operatives she had worked with had reached her height. She often had to put low heels or flat shoes to not embarrassing them. However, She would never have that problem with Ben. She reassessed that no matter how tall he stood he would never be imposing. He was too...sweet...for that.

"Oh really! You don't seem like a guy who could get nervous" Sarah teased him a bit, Right now this part was starting to get interesting

"Well, There is a trick to that" Ben spoke out in a sagely tone " All you have to do is that thinking everything going around is a video game. If you win, Then you proceed to next round and If you lose, All you have to do is start again. Each step taken towards the right path is a success itself As long as the game is on you can win anytime even if you have lost before. This way you can stay stress free and confident. It works well unless you overdo it. If lives depend on you, If you are doing something dangerous and life threatening...Things get too much complicated for you to handle ...pretend that you are the best...pretend that you are the awesome...Pretend that you are the bravest person in the world. It will not solve the problem but It will give you courage and confidence to face anything in the Universe" He concluded rather honestly and truthfully. This was what he had followed through his entire life and he didn't mind sharing it with anyone.

Sarah's brain froze for a milisecond. She had heard those exact words awhile ago. From a very familiar person. An image of a brown haired individual with dark black eyes appeared in her mind

 **Flashback**

Sarah felt slightly content as her hands brushed off against her new companion, Their fingers intervened into each other as he held her hand. At first she hoped it would be Bryce, When she first started, Sarah had a cold, calculating demeanor. Stealing from innocents was no problem. She knew over 200 ways to kill and put them to good use, and she bedded enough marks to make someone like Wilt Chamberlain take notice. Spies had been known to get that way after many years on the job, but she was going to burn out long before that. They had partnered her up with several highly-rated agents to slow down that seemingly inevitable path to self-destruction, but there was only one who made any sort of impact with her: Bryce Larkin

At first they were like oil and water but eventually she began considering him a friend. Bryce had a habit of hit on everything that moved...[but] he never was bad or rude. There was a reason behind that, Which she came to knew later. At first she wasn't responsive and he never expected that ice around her would be thawed. However, He was very much wrong and it was actually having an effect on her. So much that after several months, She had started responding them. At first, Bryce played along but when it came to sex, He panicked and told her the truth. Which had utterly devastated her and if it wasn't for the fact that he almost died to save her in that mission, She wouldn't have forgiven him

So, When Bryce was absent, She had been partnered up with a new guy. Jimmy Jones, Who liked to went by Jonah in spy world. An agent Sarah had never heard of. He had brown hair and dark black eyes. Unlike Bryce, Jimmy was classicly handsome. As if he stepped out straight from 70s. Where Bryce was brash and cocky, Jimmy was quiet and humble. In actual missions, he deferred to Sarah's judgement 90% of the time. He seemed a bit quirky and joyful by nature. Whenever death defying situation was induced, He had a knack for improvising a way out of trouble when it seemed failure, or even death, was certain. Unlike her, He seemed to be totally stress free and happy all the time. Always smiling

He was an excellent and a bit crazy agent. He made a good replacement of hospitalized Bryce. She thought he was a good person. So much so, she asked him out on a date. Mostly to swing her mind from the attraction she felt for Bryce and he wouldn't be able to return.

Their first two dates were quality Dates. They went to movies, Had dinner together and even went to nightclubs together. After their second date, She had to admit she was having a good time. She wished Jimmy would have been a bit faster in making sexual advances, However she didn't want to break his pace. Besides they had quickly gotten up to second base, It wasn't going to take much time to do the deed.

Jimmy broke from the kiss and glanced away towards the glittering stars rather intensely. After seeing him smiling fondly for a while, She couldn't stop herself from asking

"Hey, Why are you smiling like that? You don't have any devious plans for tonight, Do you? If you have, Consider me in" She spoke with a playful laugh

"Oh! Definitely milady!" Jimmy smiled as he wrapped his arm around her waist, "But right now, This stars reminded me of a very dear friend, I wonder what he might be doing"

"The mysterious friend who gave you your hoodie?"

"Yeah, That one!"

"Oh come on! You can tell the name to me, You have been bragging about him from a long time" Sarah spoke with a mock glare

"I will tell you once CIA allows us to partner up Permanently I promise you that" Jimmy said with determination in his voice, " It's not like that I don't trust you and all that...

"It's alright Jimmy" Sarah shrugged and rubbed his shoulders " We are spies and all of us has our secrets" She added with a sigh "Besides I gotta respect your boundry"

"Well..well who thought the infamous Ice queen can be such cute girlfriend" Jimmy teased as he bumped on her nose, Albeit, Just playfully

"Watch your tongue! Jonah hex!" She pinched his cheeks and added with curiosity " By the way You have been recruited just two years ago right?"

"No, I have been around for three, Mostly four if you include Langly" Jimmy scratched his head

"So, Where does this confidence and courage comes from? Especially without any sort of psych training?"

"Well, I used to have a friend, Who was a great person and magnanimous spirit. His father died right infront him and his mother died several years after. Yet, My friend never gave up. He fought against everything with a smile on his face and managed to come out on top. He became a champ from a whiny bullied boy. He did many amazing things. When I asked him, How he managed to do that, He used to tell me one thing, Life is too short to have any regrets. So when you think you can't handle everything...All you have to do is that thinking everything going around is a video game. If you win, Then you proceed to next round and If you lose, All you have to do is start again. Each step taken towards the right path is a success itself As long as the game is on you can win anytime even if you have lost before."

 **Flashback End**

Jimmy Jones...Her lover. Her best friend. Her partner. She could never forget that name. He wasn't a top spy like her and Bryce but he was surprisingly good enough. He taught her a lot about normal things which she didn't get to do due to never having a consensual childhood. Like movies, Music and all those classic references. He even told her about Summo slammers and Alien Superheroes, Which were his most favorite hobbies. He even managed to get her out of her shell, Even if a little bit. They were very good on field and even better on bed. Eventually Bryce had stepped aside just to allow Jimmy and Sarah to take the couple role during the mission.

However, Last year disappeared on a mission in Venezuela. Given the strained relationship the U.S. had at the time with Venezuela, rumors ranged from Jimmy being captured, executed, or even betraying his homeland. Sarah couldn't accept any of those, So quickly they stronghanded Graham to launch rescue parties to save him , Sarah and Bryce took part in it very much enthusiastically. But when they captured the Intelligence officer, He revealed that They never managed to capture Jimmy.

He ran away from the spy world, He ran away from her. He betrayed her out of nowhere. She could have run away with him if he wanted to, But he chose to leave her behind. She privately thought she had done something to drive him away. She would have been completely lost if it wasn't for her best friend's support. But her troubles weren't over yet, And just six months after that Bryce Larkin, Her best friend and partner betrayed her.

She racked her brain once again, Recalling that neither Jimmy nor Bryce seemed to have shared anything personal with her. Especially regarding what they were used to be before CIA. Bryce just claimed to be a trust fund baby, While Jimmy told her that his mother died just before he was recruited.

She realized, as she considered what that might mean, that she really didn't know with any certainty if their parents actually were dead or if one or both were alive but estranged from their sons. It was unlikely that they intended to cut ties to protect the people that were important to them or they wouldn't have kept his birth name. She didn't know for certain if there were parents or siblings or even friends who would miss and mourn them.

But neither had she shared such things with them. However the fact made her more angry then sad that she didn't knew anything about her lover and her best friend. The only thing she knew both of them were connected to Ben. One by Hatred and animosity , Another by Admiration and Friendship. Polar opposites. May be both of them never knew they talked about the same person. If they did, Bryce and Jimmy would have surely clashed over it someday.

Her earlier conversation with Director Graham suddenly surfaced infront of her eyes

 **Flashback**

 _"I don't get it Graham! This is kinda confusing" Sarah visibly frowned while talking on the phone_

 _" You have your orders walker, I don't think there is anything you can't understand" The Dark skinned man resonded in a rather casual and calm voice_

 _" We know that the kid got into it by mistake, He probably doesn't even know what he's got in his head. What if he didn't even opened anything? We are talking about a highly decorated Coastie who has done nothing but saving people by putting both his life and rank on risk. Why don't we just...inform him and let him come on his own. I doubt he will have any objection."_

 _"You logic is sound Walker , He is a patriot. I don't doubt it for a second but we won't be the people he may go to help. There was a time when his grandfather, I and Roan were used to be quite a team. We were very good friends but something happened during a mission, We had to leave him behind and Max never forgave me for it. Neither did Roan. Then he cut himself off from anything Intelligence related and got himself on the famous Apollo mission, Then started working at NASA. As far as I can recall Max, No one can hold a grudge like that man. He still has several connection which are even above my rank. Besides I don't think that would be too much to say he is some sort of legend amongst Coast guards. They even call him by a specific name... "_

 _"The pelican..." Sarah paused a bit, Trying to cover how much in awe she was after seeing the recording of Ben's courageous and self sacrificing endeavour in Fastnet " Yeah, Emily showed me that recording!"_

 _"Yeah, That would have made headlines in all over the world but the crown decided it would look bad. So us intelligence agencies were called in to stop the news from spreading. But now is not the time to discuss that. Bryce was our guy and his actions looks bad on all of us and I definitely don't want to get burned handling a Tennyson like I did last time"_

 _"Last time?"_

 _" Yeah, Do you remember how the role no 10 was abscent during project Omaha?"_

 _"Yep...It's initials were B.T, The one I was supposed to part..." Sarah trailed off as realization hit her " That was him, Wasn't he? The guy you couldn't bring in"_

 _"Yes and at that time I got scolded by president himself and nearly lost my position. I underestimated Max's contacts at that time but I won't make the same mistake twice. This time we are in even deeper shit. You and me both of us"_

 _"What do you mean by that?"_

 _"If I am not wrong, The intersect had already started functioning. Something which had allowed him to recognize the serbian terrorist. What he did after that is something you don't see happening in Day to Day life. He knocked him out and informed the police"_

 _"He knocked out a Terrorist? An explosion specialist?"_

 _"Yeah, Just twenty minutes ago. Look Walker, Two things can happen. Either Bryce's allies will figure out and get to him or He will start asking around about Bryce and The thing which is now inside his head. If any of them happens, I will lose my job and the new guy who is most probably going be Pateliday , won't be much more sympathetic to the liberties I gave you and your father. He also probably won't be looking past that You were indeed Bryce's parner"_

 _"Alright!" Sarah sighed in frustration " So what do you want me to do?"_

 _"Well, what you do best" Graham grinned " Charm him, Get him to do our bidding. Moniter his every moment and Don't let him invite any third party. He may not be intimated or threatened but we can use his emotions against him. Afterall he is just an idiot who could jump in a burning ship to save a handful of strengers, Imagine what he can do for his sweet beautiful girlfriend"_

 **Flashback end**

The way Graham spoke made her feel sick and slightly angry. But it was her job. Even though this time she felt disgusted doing that. This time it wasn't for her country, It was for her agency and her father. If what Graham implied was true then her job and Graham's position at CIA was in danger. She couldn't live without her job and It wasn't possible for her father to live without Graham's indirect protection. Even though she felt horrible doing that, She wished Ben would've stayed dead after the Fastnet Incident. The fate that was in store for him was far worse. It was her

At the wake of, Almost 25 years of her job, She had became everything, She had wanted to. However she felt completly empty. The lack of emotion she felt over Jimmy's betrayal and Bryce's death made her realize that.

 _"Look, Don't give up that easily! Both of us can pull it up" The British Airman who was hanging upside down from a broken wrench yelled at the smiling American_

 _"It's alright buddy! I can handle it besides I have faced much worse things than this, Poseidon doesn't have it in to destroy me, I will surely survive" The emerald eyed plumber laughed_

 _"Why are you doing this? Do you death wish or something like that?" The airmen yelled at Ben, Still trying to hold on to me_

 _"I am doing what I always do, The right thing!" Ben smiled as he unstraped his gloves._

 _"HA AT THEE" He yelled for one time before, Free falling from the sky and plummeting into ocean from a fatal height._

Her heart filled with remorse as she recalled the video Emily showed her. Sarah realized, Too much had been going on her mind. She shouldn't have come straight here, She shouldn't. She looked down in shame, Instead of targeting Bryce's partner...she was targeting Ben, Just cause he wasn't a helpless citizen and could actually damage the agency and Director to try to mess up with him. So They needed him wrapped around their finger, Her finger to be exact.

What was the worst part? She was going to do it

However, Her unusual train of thoughts came to a screeching hault, As a warm feeling on her shoulder brought her back to the world. Turning her head up she found her "Target" looking at her

"Although you seem content, you also seem quite alone over here. Can I interrupt your reverie?" Ben asked in a curious tone and added jokingly " Are you sure you are alright? I do have an 800 number in case you feel like you need to talk to somebody about this."

"No...It's nothing really" She regained her composer pretty quickly and a natural, But a very warm and friendly smile crept over her lips " I was just wondering, How did you get into the academy? I heard that's really tough"

"Simple" Ben spoke in a sing song voice " Well, I just needed to get a job after my mom died. Trust fund weren't enough to support both me and my foster sister Ellie at the same time. She was in med school and probably required some liquidity. So I saddled up my gears, Crammed up worthless pile of crappy books for a while and ta da I passed the Test and I was in USCG academy. I won't say I had the time of my life studying there but It was kinda enjoyable. And everything was pretty much free, I got paid in full and besides, I would like to think I turned up pretty alright, Ain't I?"

" _Yes, Yes, You have...Definitely a helluva better than me!"_

"Yeah, you surely did" Sarah replied with a charming smile

"Well, I have my roots from here but what about you?" Ben asked in a very casual and normal tone "Like do you have a house somewhere?"

"Actually I move around alot" Sarah responded honestly and continued " I usually work for government though. So they arrange the accomedation"

"Like they arrange for me in Alaska?"

"Yeah! Kinda similar. But I can't be too sure cause I don't know much about your system" Sarah replied, Quickly she had felt the conversation had gotten much lighter

"Do you have a favorite color?" Ben asked with a yawn, This had been the longest he had chatted with an enemy. The enemy Paradox told him to trust. Well, Only time could tell what his words meant. However Ben was a pacifist and had no intention of doing any ass kicking until the situation demanded. So he was just going to wait and watch. Here he was most certainly relaxed, He had faced far worse things, Like A God like demon and Life sucking monster, A spy no matter how bad ass, was still an ordinary human. He...well he was still leaps and bounds above from ordinary

"I...dunno. I didn't...give it much thought but may be green" Sarah spoke out hopefully, So this was the kind of things normal guys asked girls on a date?

"Well, Green has suited me for years so samepinch for that" Ben replied once again in a relaxing manner and added with a very fond smile" But I like the color of your hair"

"Thanks for the compliments!" She spoke out rather shyly, Which sparked Ben's curiosity a bit. "May I know why?" She asked in a bit meek and unfamiliar tone, With the adorning blush still covering her face

" My mom used to have hair like that " Ben smiled sadly, Still maintaining eye contact with the CIA seductress, " And she was a very beautiful woman, She even had tough fists like you. As per she told me, She hated being called a dumb blonde. Although every thing changed after she met my Dad. She was instantly infatuated and asked him out. Dad was a great guy, However he was kinda recluse and a bit dumb in girls department. He took her out on a movie and ...

"What happened after that?" Sarah gushed , "That sounds like such a romantic story," even Sarah was prone to dreamy sighs after a tale like that. It was like one of those classic love stories people read about in fantasy romance novels.

"He fell asleep during the movie!" Ben sighed

"Ha ha, That was totally dumb, You mom must have been angry" Sarah let out a couple of giggles, The CIA agent was surprised at her behavior, It was as if the filter between her mouth and brain had became entirely messed up.

"You know you are making fun of my dead father, Right!" Ben snorted causing the CIA agent to look away rather bashfully. She opened her mouth again and seemed apologetic. However, A chuckle from Ben stopped any words from coming out again.

"Yeah, He was kinda dweeb. Even he called himself like that" Ben spoke with a content look, Fondly remembering his father with a smile" Mom kicked him in balls for inconsiderate and Dad became angry at the brutish blonde who hit him. However, They were truly drawn to each other and in the end couldn't stay apart for a long time!"

"So that's why you really like my hair" Sarah gave him a fond smile, and took a strand of her hair between her ring and index finger, twirling it around "Cause they remind you of your mother" She added rather bashfully

"Well, It's not that similar!" Ben spoke as a matter of fact " Hers were more open and straight, While yours more look like more shiny and curly. So I would like to say, She looked more like gracious and beautiful angel type, You on the other hand are more like a playful and gorgeous fox, Who is mysterious and aloof but charming nonethless" He spoke rather truthfully.

From what he learned from the spy movies and spy novels, He had expected her to come up with some flirtatious remark or some sort of seductive response you can expect from honey goat, Sorry honey pot things. However what she did, That actually managed to surprise him quite a bit.

She looked away with what it seemed like a giddy school girl grin and pushed the locks of her hair behind her ears. Ben, who was right now turned into his Alter Ego **Feedback** could hear heartbeats racing. He looked away in confusion and wished if Gwen would be here. He wasn't very good at such things. Even after so much years female mind has always been a mystery to him.

Before he can do much more thinking a warm sensation on his hand brought him back to the world of living. He turned around quizzingly, Actually felt a bit surprised by look on her face , A graceful blush still adorning on her facade, The most surprising feature was her smile. Which seemed a lot more than superficial.

"That...was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me" Sarah spoke with no hint of lies in her voice. She felt something lighting up insiding her and she couldn't help but smile back at him. She knew she wasn't the ugly duckling anymore and she was very much used to compliments. However, Even the seduction academy of CIA couldn't prepare for something like that. This was one of the rare time where she felt warm and fuzzy from inside. She realised, She was no longer playing balls in a game, Sam was. Sam who wanted a normal life, Sam who was naturally attracted to tall and good natured guys. Towards Sarah Ben was nothing more than a target to manipulate, However towards Sam, He was someone who had swept her over feet. For what it seemed to be better or worse Sam had assumed control of her actions

"To be honest, I was just pointing out the obvious" A jovial grin spread over Ben's face, Like it always used to be ," But if it made a friend smile then I am glad"

Sarah blinked, Amused at what he had just implied. She didn't know she should be rather happy on being called that or feel insulted on not hearing any cheesy pick up lines coming out from him. He was definitely stronger that she originally expected and it would take a lot more than beauty to get him enamored. Albeit, It seemed that he had a few week moments but he didn't lose his friendly charm even for a single moment. Infact, It was her who was getting flustered instead of him. However he wasn't player like confident, It was more like friendly and light hearted kind of confidence. Which actually made him even more attractive from a point

"My my, You are quite the charmer, Aren't you?" She smiled playfully

"Yeah, Very much. Infact I had the hordes of fangirls following me around for a long time. Which included a famous TV actress who went crazy for me!" Ben joked and added with a chuckle " There were thousands of competitions whose grand prizes were to win a date with me"

"Oh! really?" Sarah giggled " How come you don't have a girlfriend than?"

"Ah! You see I am a superhero who made the world forget about me" Ben spoke like a mysterious game show host " Not only that I had also saved the galaxy from the armies of evil numerous time"

"Ahem! I know you dealt with that Terrorist but this..." Sarah smiled, Barely able to contain her laughter "A bit too much!" She concluded as the lights changed into green.

"Well! Even if I don't look much, I am really capable" Ben responded with a mock glare and added with a friendly smile " Besides If I have any short comings, You can handle one or two by yourself! You too seem like some sort of cyborg Jedi working for government"

"He he! That sounds ridiculous" She laughed and chided him playfully "Now no more distraction while I am driving, I don't drive well blushing or laughing"

"Wish as you may, Lady Jedi Cyber. Hmmm" Ben did his best Yoda imitation with a two finger salute and turned to window once again. Looking at the swiftly moving traffic and familiar buildings. His body was still transformed and conductoid senses were far more sharper than humans and Kraahos. He could also see things in a slow motion which made it easier to notice all the things.

"Save me! Please help me"

Ben heard a miffed cry which sent shivers through his spine. He panicked and looked around but the source of voice still seemed out of his reach. The traffic was still too much high for him to make out anything by using enhanced senses.

Only having two aliens in his playlist made him kinda master of sorts regarding them. Not only he knew every single thing he could do, He had also took them up to next level. The only way to find the panicked source was to use his Radar ability. Ben closed his eyes and took a long breath. Suddenly several invisible radio waves came out of **Feedback's** body and released themselves into the atmosphere.

With in one moment they returned inside his body. He gained a vision formed by his echolation ability.

It was a small girl, Around the age of ten and she was crying. She seemed to be wearing some sort of pink tutu and dress which was usually worn during dance practices or competitions. What terrified him was that she was stuck on the middle of road when traffic was moving on a very highspeed. She managed to survive by sheer amount of luck but it was going to run out sooner.

Ben's fists clenched as the lightning pulsed through his entire body and fire returned in his eyes. He no longer cared about CIA and NSA watching him, He no longer cared about the blonde spy sitting alongside him. All he cared about the small girl and how to save her life. With in a flash he unstrapped the seat belt and jumped out of the moving car. Wielder of the Ultimatrix leaned sidewards and he landed hard on the windshield of the moving SUV

Feeling rather unfazed due to his unnatural strength and stamina, He quickly rolled away on the floor before getting up and dashing towards the busy road. He tried keeping his speed as human as he could and tried to move in a zig zag motion. Dodging the fast vehicles just by a nose's reach. Albeit he got smacked several time but he managed to get up quickly

The little girl cried in dispair as hordes of speeding vehicles didn't allow her to escape her fate. She had managed to dodge a few of them but now a monster truck was coming, There was no way she could move away from that. She could hear the cries of her father who was frantically trying to cross the gap between them. However the uncontrollable traffic. Her father had just recorded her first ballet recital. She didn't want to die yet

Tear veiled up in her eyes as the little ballerina fell on her knees and wept. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted up in the air, She opened her eyes only to see the brightest shade of green she had ever seen. The green eyed man smiled warmly at her and spoke

"Hey, Hey hang tight princess! The ride is gonna get bumpy"

The small girl nodded at her saviour and couldn't help but smile back at her. The plumber chuckled as the thunder thumped inside his muscles and he jumped in the air, Keeping it as much human as he could, He safely covered Ballerina with his body as he roughly landed on a safe side of the road.

00000ooooooo0000000000

Kevin E Levin felt tensed after a long while. He put his badge on the desk while his feet uncontrollably tapped on the floor. After a long time he felt anxiety touching him. He glanced at the frame on the table, Which was a picture taken right after his wedding. It was him, Gwen and his longtime best friend Ben. He realised at the moment, All three of them came out a long way from what they were used to be. It wouldn't be too much to say they had achieved quite a lot. He went from a psychopath and bloodthirsty to a respected police officer, a superhero and a loving husband. He was even going to become a father. However, Ben hadn't been quite lucky like him

Kevin felt at the moment that Ben had gotten the shorter end of stick compared to them. He had been quite alone from some time. The thought had cringed him and Gwen from a long time that the three of them weren't as close as they were used to be. However, It was kinda due to Ben's rash career choice, She always tried to pressure him to do some family dinner, sleepovers or just plain out calling him to stay for the time being. But their connection wasn't as sound as it used to be. He didn't think it like that. What he thought that Ben felt that They had moved on their glorious past and made lives of their own, While he didn't.

It was most likely that, Ben needed a campanion. More like a stable life partner, Someone who could help him get over the craziness of his past. They thought Julie would be that partner, It felt pretty natural cause both of them started dating around the same time they did. However, They didn't work out and even though there were times Ben had been at fault, Julie too wasn't a very great girlfriend. She was a very good friend though, Albeit Ben wasn't much to blame when their relationship fell apart. She was at times too much fascinated with ship and she didn't return as much as she expected Ben to give. Albeit, Gwen did begrudgingly admit that Ben was indeed wise in breaking up with Julie, She was just scared of losing her best friend at that time. Anyways, Julie got her memory wiped out and ship was returned to Galvan. While memoryless Julie retained her feelings, He was very much against dating her due to how he had to keep competing against a pet to get her attention. And then he got into the academy.

Kevin slammed his fists angrily on the table. Pierce made a very great mistake by bringing Ben in whatever goddamn conflict he was in. He had no right to bring in his family in this. Especially at this times when he was finally getting the peace he deserved. There were quite a few people in the plumbers who disagreed with him. Believed their team should have done more. However people forgot that they too were human in nature and needed their break from disastrous life. Kevin took out a beer bottle from his personal freezer and drank several sips.

As he tried to find the peace of his mind and think about something which could put his dumb brother in law out of the whatever shit Pierce had decided to put him in, He heard several knocks on the door.

However, Before he could respond to it verbally, The person knocking on it had already entered into his office. Kevin gritted his teeth angrily and snapped

"How dare you enter in my office without my permission!"

"Well well Levin, What can I say! Your appointment list was full so I had to sneak in" The middle aged gruff man stepped into light. He had a cruel grin on his face and his eyes were filled with coldness. Every gesture on his face screamed ruthless killer. . A huge unsympathetic man lit a cigar as he walked up and blew smoke as he pulled a chair

"Didn't I tell you last time John..." Kevin scowled he smacked the cigar out of the guy's hands "No one smokes in my office"

"Attitude huh? I guess getting a medal from governor tends to do that to you!" John smirked as he smashed his palms on the desk" You should remember that my paycheck and my designation is way bigger than yours, Detective"

"May be " Kevin frowned as he directed his glare towards the man named John Casey " But I am not someone to be intimidated, Army Grunt!"

"Look Kevin, I know the agency messed up last time we came here...

"The last time you barged in my city, Three undercover cops and seven informers died because of your arrogance and your agency's ignorance. Your agency must have some balls sending you in my office" Kevin snarled with outrage

"Fine then! Just sign these papers and I will get the hell out of here" John grunted, He was angry but he knew better to engage against Kevin. That guy was literally made pit of metal and he hit like a hawk. It was better to stay away from him

"Listen buddy, Like I have said in past, I don't trust army grunts. Especially you." Kevin frowned " So I will say it again, If you dare set foot in my city without the written permission of LAPD and Local FBI chief, I will bust your team's cute NSA asses into Guantana Bay personally!"

"Levin, stop being stubborn!" John growled " Our jurisdiction is far more...

"And this city is my home, The people here are My family" Kevin clenched his fist angrily, As he smashed his badge on the table " I don't need some army grunt with no sense of morality doing errands here! So GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CITY!"

"I can get you suspended, demoted or even worse..." John growled angrily , The Major rose quickly from his seat and slapped both his palms on the table, leaning toward Kevin with a menacing glare. He grabbed Kevin's collar, "Don't challenge me Levin! There is more to the world than your cute LAPD butt has seen"

"I have seen much worse and It would take a lot more than this to scare me, Army grunt" Kevin chuckled as he grabbed the NSA agent's hand and before John Casey could know what was happening, His head was smashed straight on the sturdy wooden table

00000oooooooo00000000000ooooooooo

Morgan Grimes wasn't a very happy man today. Well, To be honest he had felt rather left out. That wasn't the case always, He had a best friend, Infact two best friends. However, One chose to go to teach at college and other, well he decided to fly choppers. Both Chuck and he felt that things were rather dull without Ben. And considering how much hospital trips Ben had taken, He was starting to get afraid that he might have to go to his funeral. Lovely Ellie also felt the same way and even though Chuck wasn't very vocal about that, He too felt the same. Seeing his best friend, Who barely got scratched during highschool had gotten stuck into wheelchair for a long time. Now that, He was back and Back on his feet, They were the three musketeers once again. He might try to get Ben to slow down a bit and get a normal job instead of getting a badge or gun.

He glared at the apple Duo Jeff and Lester, He chuckled once again at realizing what's going to be their reactions after meeting Lt Cool. They are never going to bully him ever again.

Right infront of him, There was a beautiful asian girl working on fixing section B. She wore a really skimpy skirt and her make up looked rather heavy. If it wasn't too much to say, She was the object of desire of all employees and most of the customers walking inside Buy More. She knew about it very well and she was not above using her charms to get things done. Suddenly she heard a noise behind causing her to turn around.

"Wuff wuff"

Her eyes widened as she looked down, Trying to analyse the source of the muffled noise. It was a small and cute robot puppy, It looked rather adorable with pink metallic skin covering its body. The robotic animal opened its mouth, Revealing a small I phone inside of it, Alongside two tickets of Star Wars

A small voice clip started playing out from inside the I phone

"Miss Anna Wu, This magical device recognise that you are not from around here, So It deems necessary to inform heaven that an angel had went missing"

Anna giggled, This seemed fresh, Whoever this guy was he surely was far more creative then those creeps who worked around here.

"It also seems that your father is a thief who stole the stars and put them in your eyes. I wonder if you like to go and give me the honor of watching a movie with you, So may be I Morgan Grimes could go down in history as a guy who took an angel to a movie"

The asian girl froze, truely feeling flattered. It felt rather classy and romantic, And to be honest she felt a bit touched. She found it a bit hard to believe that Morgan could come up with something like that but on the other hand he did seem better, Infact much better than the creeps like Jeff and Lester. Besides he was kinda lonely and she did feel bad about it.

With a smile, She took out the the tickets and I phone in her hand, Then started walking towards the Nerd herd desk.

If she had paid rather close attention to the Robo Puppy, She would have found a small note on its back . There was something written on that.

 **"An Esteemed Gift from Grandsmith Technologies to our dearest friend, Ben Tennyson**

 **Argh, This is it Fellas!**

 **Any ideas regarding Sarah's reactions after watching Ben save the little Ballerina? Kevin's future role and yeah, Ben going to buy more and meeting Morgan. Finally**

 **So please please read and review**


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